"Wichita minister stranded at Orlando airport goes home"

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Wichitan stranded at Fla. airport goes home
BY SUZANNE PEREZ TOBIAS
The Wichita (KS) Eagle


A Wichita minister who suffered a stroke while spending two days and nights
at an Orlando, Fla., airport was returning to Wichita on Tuesday, family
members said.

"Right now we're just focusing on getting him well," said Melinda Johnson,
daughter of the Rev. Kenneth Davis, pastor of Immanuel Outreach Centre
Church of God in Christ.

Meanwhile, airport officials said that, contrary to initial reports,
security footage shows the minister was found on a bench outside the
airport's third level -- not on the second level, where he had been wheeled
out with his luggage two days earlier.

They said they are still reviewing more than 60 hours of security videotape
from throughout Orlando International Airport, trying to piece together what
happened to Davis after he landed there the evening of Aug. 13.

Footage shows Davis moved around the airport, said Rod Johnson, an airport
spokesman.

"While details are unavailable due to the ongoing investigation, we can say
with confidence that... Mr. Davis was not left sitting in a wheelchair in
front of OIA for three days," he said.

"Over the course of the incident, Mr. Davis could have received assistance
from numerous members of the airport community, including airline employees,
TSA agents... restaurant workers and police," Johnson said.

"However, he did not seek help or indicate that there was a problem, which
slowed the overall response."

Davis, 72, took an AirTran flight from Wichita to Orlando on Aug. 13 to
attend a gospel music conference. Shortly after the plane landed, Davis told
airport officials he wasn't feeling well and asked for a wheelchair, said
Judy Graham-Weaver, an AirTran spokeswoman.

A skycap helped Davis retrieve his luggage and rolled him to a curb outside
the airport, she said. He called his wife, Joyce, in Wichita, to let her
know he had landed and that he was waiting for a ride to his hotel.

Family members lost contact with Davis after that. They filed a missing
person report Aug. 15, and an airport skycap discovered Davis on a bench
outside the airport that afternoon.

Family members said Davis was severely dehydrated and unable to speak when
he was discovered. Doctors told them he had suffered a stroke that affected
the front part of his brain, but they weren't sure when he had the stroke,
said Kenneth Davis Jr.

He was accompanying his father on a flight to Wichita after the elder Davis
was released from a hospital Tuesday.

Davis' daughter, Melinda Johnson, would not say when her father was expected
back in Wichita, adding that "we don't want him bombarded by media at this
point. He is still... fragile."

"We just need everybody to continue to pray for him and his recovery," she
said.

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