Joined: 09 Sep 2005 Posts: 1133 Location: No longer at 8th and Prez
Mon Jul 03, 06 3:40 pm EST
3:30pm on July 3.
Police have just shut down 8th Ave between Garfield and President Street due to a suspicious package on the street. The bomb squad is on the scene with several large trucks. I was out in the middle of 8th when the cops came down the avenue to close between Carroll and President. Everyone had to either leave the block or go inside. I'll post more details soon.
8thandPrez Stroller Person
Joined: 09 Sep 2005 Posts: 1133 Location: No longer at 8th and Prez
Mon Jul 03, 06 3:55 pm EST
Cops on the street below continue to shout for people to stay off the 3 blocks that are shut down. One just said it was due to "a potential bomb scare."
8thandPrez Stroller Person
Joined: 09 Sep 2005 Posts: 1133 Location: No longer at 8th and Prez
Mon Jul 03, 06 4:02 pm EST
Now shut down between Garfield and Union Streets.
8thandPrez Stroller Person
Joined: 09 Sep 2005 Posts: 1133 Location: No longer at 8th and Prez
Mon Jul 03, 06 5:05 pm EST
The area shut down now extends from 7th Ave to Prospect Park West, Union St to at least Garfield (that's as far as I can see from my apt). A bunch of police trucks and bomb squad vehicles just came the wrong way down 8th and are parked between Carroll and President.
Just went to the Key Food on 7th and the police were there buying water, as they said, for the police "in the full body suits."
8thandPrez Stroller Person
Joined: 09 Sep 2005 Posts: 1133 Location: No longer at 8th and Prez
Mon Jul 03, 06 5:14 pm EST
Police donning oxygen tanks in the middle of 8th Ave.
Rose Ninja
Joined: 10 Nov 2005 Posts: 911 Location: South Slope
Mon Jul 03, 06 5:15 pm EST
Yikes. I just drove down 7th Ave and was trying to figure out WTF was going on.
8thandPrez Stroller Person
Joined: 09 Sep 2005 Posts: 1133 Location: No longer at 8th and Prez
Mon Jul 03, 06 5:30 pm EST
Police have dispersed (at least from in front of my bldg) and allowed people to cross to their apartments.
8thandPrez Stroller Person
Joined: 09 Sep 2005 Posts: 1133 Location: No longer at 8th and Prez
Mon Jul 03, 06 6:36 pm EST
Husband just got home - now the police have 7th Ave closed. 8th Ave is still closed to traffic. Police helicopter hovering overhead.
kensingtonguy Guest
Mon Jul 03, 06 6:38 pm EST
Thanks for the info! Currently out of town in San Antonio and caught wind of sitch from other message board. This is the only place where I was able to find out more.
armchair_warrior retsop cixelsyd
Joined: 23 Dec 2005 Posts: 5857 Location: boondocks
Mon Jul 03, 06 6:41 pm EST
i was wondering what all those offical cars and trucks where doing. i was parking and than all of suddenly the streets behind me close :p. i ask the cop who show up. he told me to walk along . _________________ Fight white guilt and injustice by going to a Native American casino and gamble your money away.
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turgg Guest
Mon Jul 03, 06 6:53 pm EST
the official word is that it was a horrible sky-diving accident gone wrong. apparantly a few dozen people noted seeing a guy falling from way higher than any building in the area, some even heard him screaming. he landed somewhere around carroll street, but i'm not certain. the bomb scare stuff is just boring filler to keep people from crowding.
more as i get word
-turrg
alafairnadia radical quellist
Joined: 08 Aug 2005 Posts: 8272 Location: not washington ave. btwn sterling & st. johns
Mon Jul 03, 06 6:55 pm EST
turgg wrote:
the official word is that it was a horrible sky-diving accident gone wrong.
wait, REALLY? who sky dives in the city? absurd! _________________ like a smoked meat with an earthy youth overnote
8thandPrez Stroller Person
Joined: 09 Sep 2005 Posts: 1133 Location: No longer at 8th and Prez
Mon Jul 03, 06 7:02 pm EST
There was a report earlier on the local news about a skydiving accident, but it wasn't in Park Slope. There were far too many cops with hazmat/bomb gear than for a skydiving accident. Time will tell.
8thandPrez Stroller Person
Joined: 09 Sep 2005 Posts: 1133 Location: No longer at 8th and Prez
Mon Jul 03, 06 7:06 pm EST
Onlytheblogknowsbrooklyn is saying what we've been hearing: there was a suspicious package found (OTBKB says it was a suitcase).
My building super, who was talking to the cops, said that it was delivered by the Postal Service. Who knows.
8thandPrez Stroller Person
Joined: 09 Sep 2005 Posts: 1133 Location: No longer at 8th and Prez
Mon Jul 03, 06 7:10 pm EST
People are walking freely up and down 8th Ave and I just saw the three suit-wearing cops (which I assumed made them important) walking away with their coats off. Crisis averted/solved?
roo Guest
Mon Jul 03, 06 7:20 pm EST
I heard multiple packages from a super on Union; at least one on montgomery from someone living there.
Firefighters told me straight up, suspicious package; got both stories from various cops (accident, packages).
Nothing on any news channel, of course.
roo Guest
Mon Jul 03, 06 7:26 pm EST
actually, right now a couple of pretty serious looking cops are measuring an (apparently empty) suitcase, right next to blue apron....
roo Guest
Mon Jul 03, 06 7:30 pm EST
just opened union sidewalks, except on SE corner of union, where police are talking. /
idealist Guest
Mon Jul 03, 06 7:36 pm EST
no traffic on 8th or 7th Ave. no foot traffic on 7th, or union or carroll...
Guest
Mon Jul 03, 06 8:18 pm EST
now 'tis. when i had posted, i was a bit premature on the opening top of union/8th.
montgomery Guest
Mon Jul 03, 06 8:31 pm EST
8thandPrez wrote:
Police donning oxygen tanks in the middle of 8th Ave.
there was at least one black suitcase on eight avenue, in a cirle of yellow police tape at around 4.p.m. - a small hazmat unit nearby, investigating it, the police did not allow the resident to stay too long to observe how and when they took the suitcase with them, two hours later both the suitcase and the yellow tape were gone.
montgomery Guest
Mon Jul 03, 06 8:37 pm EST
roo wrote:
I heard multiple packages from a super on Union; at least one on montgomery from someone living there.
Firefighters told me straight up, suspicious package; got both stories from various cops (accident, packages).
Nothing on any news channel, of course.
At around four in the afternoon on Eight Avenue, the police with the hazmat unit seemed to have information about six packages (I mentioned them that residents often leave suitcases behind on the curb when they move, but they said this time there were too many simultaneous packages, they were investigating one, the guy who went near had a hand-held X-ray device in his hand, and he was dressed in full hazmat suit - ironically 20 minutes earlier we could still walk by that very same black suitcase, but at that time they sent everyone away).
montgomery Guest
Mon Jul 03, 06 8:44 pm EST
8thandPrez wrote:
Onlytheblogknowsbrooklyn is saying what we've been hearing: there was a suspicious package found (OTBKB says it was a suitcase).
My building super, who was talking to the cops, said that it was delivered by the Postal Service. Who knows.
No, the one I saw on Eight Avenue at around 4 p.m. was a discarded-looking suitcase, a large one, similar to what stewardesses use ... we walked by it at first, there were no Post Office related stickers attached, but it was right next to a Post Office Storage Box ... about 20 minutes later, they certainly investigated it very seriously ... but did not let us see what was in it, probably a bunch of unwashed socks ... we were asked to move on towards the Park.
armchair_warrior retsop cixelsyd
Joined: 23 Dec 2005 Posts: 5857 Location: boondocks
Mon Jul 03, 06 8:50 pm EST
i was joking to my friend at the time. when the cop didnt give us any info. i was saying hey look fire guys are here and so are the cops and closing all these blocks. the ambulances and fire guys are way behind the line where the cops blocking off the streets. I was thinking and saying to her ,must be some sort of prank bomb scare or something. _________________ Fight white guilt and injustice by going to a Native American casino and gamble your money away.
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8thandPrez Stroller Person
Joined: 09 Sep 2005 Posts: 1133 Location: No longer at 8th and Prez
Mon Jul 03, 06 10:01 pm EST
That's funny, because one of the big bomb squad trucks that drove away had about 10 suitcases and bags tied to the front hood. I was wondering why that was the case, but maybe they were collecting these stray bags from the neighborhood?
vanilla Carneviento Devotee
Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Posts: 1434
Tue Jul 04, 06 12:21 am EST
8thandPrez wrote:
That's funny, because one of the big bomb squad trucks that drove away had about 10 suitcases and bags tied to the front hood. I was wondering why that was the case, but maybe they were collecting these stray bags from the neighborhood?
nyc's finest!
mc Local
Joined: 16 Sep 2005 Posts: 252 Location: sterling pl.
Tue Jul 04, 06 1:51 am EST
I wonder if it was just a drill. I can't think of any other reason why it would'nt have been on the news.
pitu lillet This is just a test.
Joined: 19 May 2006 Posts: 101
Tue Jul 04, 06 8:01 am EST
mc wrote:
I wonder if it was just a drill. I can't think of any other reason why it would'nt have been on the news.
good point
otherwise local telly news would have been all over it on a slow news day/holiday weekend
Union was closed to Sixth Ave, preventing me and my coop shopping from getting done at 6:30pm
ikuchyacokov Guest
Tue Jul 04, 06 10:00 am EST
turgg wrote:
the official word is that it was a horrible sky-diving accident gone wrong. apparantly a few dozen people noted seeing a guy falling from way higher than any building in the area, some even heard him screaming. he landed somewhere around carroll street, but i'm not certain. the bomb scare stuff is just boring filler to keep people from crowding.
more as i get word
-turrg
Agreed alafairnadia. Turgg's comments are indeed absurd. try using your head. come on....really, 1. as pointed out, skydiving in the city? the odds yo! and 2. 'boring filler'? you must be a F'ing douche bag. thank god we are all not as oblivous as you.
raw "Way Too Incestial"
Joined: 14 Jun 2006 Posts: 2036
Tue Jul 04, 06 11:02 am EST
As I was walking from Grand Army Plaza down to 7th Avenue on Union Street at 4 PM on July 3, 2006 in unpleasant humidity, a frustrated cop from the 78 Precinct barked at me, "go to the park! You must go to the park!" Clueless, I asked him why I must walk back up the hill to Prospect Park. My question threw the cop in a rage. (Perhaps Mr. Cop, who seemed chock full of a violent, explosive anger, was the real tick-tick-ticking time bomb in the neighborhood?) After more painfully confused communication, I walked back up to Prospect Park in search of pleasant police officers. (Apparently, working in full police uniform in July’s heat, continually bombarded by pedestrians’ questions, is not fun.) I heard that police continued to section of blocks and send helicopters until 7 PM in the evening. Does anyone have information on what motivated the police to take action? Does anyone know what they discovered last night – if anything?
Flexichick Windsor Terrorist
Joined: 27 Apr 2006 Posts: 9623
Tue Jul 04, 06 11:09 am EST
I finally found a little bit of info, but it wasn't very helpful.
Joined: 23 Dec 2005 Posts: 5857 Location: boondocks
Tue Jul 04, 06 11:22 am EST
sound like a artist making a point of bags with empty bags :p. _________________ Fight white guilt and injustice by going to a Native American casino and gamble your money away.
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cat Insider
Joined: 12 Sep 2005 Posts: 340
Tue Jul 04, 06 12:34 pm EST
plastic bags?
it's hard not to believe that some of this is scare tactics.
why do the police in any situation like this become so militant when asked questions (the policeman you are asking probably spends as much time and energy rebuffing the question as they would just answering the question.)? they are supposed to be there as part of the so-called community and yet they become more like the military in these situations. it's authoritarianism.
Drano Meow Wars Veteran
Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 1579
Tue Jul 04, 06 12:58 pm EST
cat wrote:
plastic bags?
it's hard not to believe that some of this is scare tactics.
why do the police in any situation like this become so militant when asked questions (the policeman you are asking probably spends as much time and energy rebuffing the question as they would just answering the question.)? they are supposed to be there as part of the so-called community and yet they become more like the military in these situations. it's authoritarianism.
Um, well I hate to say it, but dealing with some of the people in this neighborhood in an official capacity would drive me up a tree, too. I'm sure in addition to answering the same question 50 times, there were probably a dozen people that insisted they just HAD to go through that block because Jonah had a playdate with his friend that lives there or they didn't want to go three blocks out of their way to get where they were going. Probably got a bunch of dirty looks and annoying, unnecessary arguments. Add the heat and the small but real chance of taking some shrapnel, and there ya go.
I could never be a cop, I'd be giving out wood shampoos left and right. Starting with the "artist" or just random douche-nozzle who was responsible for this.
montgomery Guest
Tue Jul 04, 06 2:02 pm EST
cat wrote:
plastic bags?
it's hard not to believe that some of this is scare tactics.
why do the police in any situation like this become so militant when asked questions (the policeman you are asking probably spends as much time and energy rebuffing the question as they would just answering the question.)? they are supposed to be there as part of the so-called community and yet they become more like the military in these situations. it's authoritarianism.
Many of them were volunteers, their badge said "AUXILIARY" ... although their uniforms really resemble the real ones.
brooklynpotter ceramme ceramma danna
Joined: 11 May 2006 Posts: 4015 Location: near the square that's a circle
Wed Jul 05, 06 12:45 pm EST
according to gothamist, there were a large number of suitcases thrown out in the past few days and many were treated as suspicious packages when they were, indeed, trash. (i'm paraphrasing, but that's the gist--jist?) _________________ what would you tell me, if i could hear you speaking?--t.r.
Joined: 29 May 2006 Posts: 1261 Location: PS Bklyn
Wed Jul 05, 06 8:00 pm EST
Now why give a homeless man a bunch of suitcases.
"A string of suspicious packages sighted in Park Slope on Monday were attributed to a homeless man, police officials said yesterday. Police responded to calls about 12 suspicious packages at eight locations, but found only empty suitcases. Early suspicions led some to believe the packages to be a political art project or the work of mischievous teenagers. Investigators yesterday found a woman who said she gave a homeless man all her suitcases after she saw him rooting in her garbage. Police said they believe the man deposited the suitcases on street corners and places throughout Park Slope as he walked around."
Posted by: wanda | Jul 5, 2006 1:47:36 PM"
Drano Meow Wars Veteran
Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 1579
Fri Jul 07, 06 8:24 am EST
eggcream wrote:
Now why give a homeless man a bunch of suitcases.
"A string of suspicious packages sighted in Park Slope on Monday were attributed to a homeless man, police officials said yesterday. Police responded to calls about 12 suspicious packages at eight locations, but found only empty suitcases. Early suspicions led some to believe the packages to be a political art project or the work of mischievous teenagers. Investigators yesterday found a woman who said she gave a homeless man all her suitcases after she saw him rooting in her garbage. Police said they believe the man deposited the suitcases on street corners and places throughout Park Slope as he walked around."
Posted by: wanda | Jul 5, 2006 1:47:36 PM"
Yup, that's pretty stupid - what, did she think the only thing holding him back from that big eco-tour in Costa Rica was a lack of proper luggage? Maybe she thought he would open up a little curbside luggage store! Who doesn't like used suitcases? Or - and this is probably it - she figured he could put his cans and stuff in there and walk around with a suitcase in each hand and one under each arm like in an old cartoon. Yeah, that system will make him forget his stolen shopping cart in a hurry!
I hereby suggest that her head should be zipped inside a suitcase (with a couple airholes, don't worry) with "I AM STUPID" written on the side and that she should then be marched around the neighborhood for a few hours on a day when the temperature is not less than 32 degrees centigrade.
Idiot.
armchair_warrior retsop cixelsyd
Joined: 23 Dec 2005 Posts: 5857 Location: boondocks
Fri Jul 07, 06 8:47 am EST
did they get the homeless guy or what? _________________ Fight white guilt and injustice by going to a Native American casino and gamble your money away.
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