The boaters who got stuck near a La Guardia Airport runway because the captain abandoned his helm for a threesome were a wake-up call for the Port Authority — which will finally resume afternoon maritime patrols there and around JFK Airport, sources told The Post.
The patrols, which were scrapped about a year ago to save money, will start up again tomorrow, according to an internal email sent from PAPD Assistant Chief Gloria Frank to Inspector Geraldo Silva and Deputy Inspector Lisha [cq] Harper, the commanding officers of JFK and La Guardia Airport, respectively.
Negative publicity for the PA that arose from the wayward boaters’ actions — and a push from Rep. Peter King — forced the hand of the agency and led to the patrols being reinstituted, sources said.
Funds to pay for police salaries for the afternoon patrols will come from federal “anti-terrorism initiative” monies, Frank’s email noted.
Late Saturday evening, an allegedly intoxicated New Jersey boat captain, Craig Gallo, 51, smashed his 28-foot Wellcraft, Olivia Angelina, into runway approach lights, inside an “exclusionary zone” on the perimeter of La Guardia Airport.
The boozy mishap occurred when Gallo abandoned the helm to join his pal in a threesome with his buddy and a woman they met at a College Point watering hole, sources claim.
PAPD officials declined to launch their own rescue boat, docked not far from the scene, to respond to the stricken vessel.
Instead, PAPD cops were forced to seek help from the NYPD Harbor Unit, which showed up after nearly a half hour delay.
Sources complained that had the trio been trained terrorists, they would have been able to accomplish a deadly mission and possibly attacked an airplane on a nearby runway.
As a result of the PA’s change of heart, two PA cops will now be assigned to PAPD patrol boats deployed in the waters outside each airport for the “third platoon” — from 2 p.m. until 10 p.m. — every day.
The PAPD has continued its daytime maritime patrols outside each airport, but there was no immediate word on whether the agency plans to reinstitute similar maritime patrols for the “third platoon,” from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m., which were also cancelled for fiscal reasons.
A spokesman for the PA did not return a call for comment.