5.31.06

Block Party

This is what I came home to this afternoon:

There was a pretty serious bomb scare a block away from our apartment today, resulting in emergency personnel blowing up what they thought might be a pipe bomb. It later turned out that the “bomb” was actually a camera tripod, but things were quite interesting for a while. Our neighborhood played host to about two dozen police officers, six helicopters, several bomb-sniffing dogs and a couple of news stations for a few hours. Our street was closed to traffic, and when I asked a cop whether I could walk down it, he replied “you should be OK”, in a voice that insinuated he wouldn’t be held responsible if I exploded into a million pieces in front of my apartment.

Aside from this ominous encounter, the whole scene was very chill – people were out walking their dogs and buying groceries and such. Most stopped for a few minutes to watch the scene unfold. I decided the event would make a great chapter in our household photo album, so I took a bunch of pictures.

Here’s a woman trying to convince a cop to let her past the crime scene tape:

Their exchange, verbatim:

Woman: Please, Officer, I just need to get into my apartment for a minute.
Cop: Lady, there is a BOMB over there. I don’t have time for this.

I returned home by the time they set off the tripod/suspected explosive device. However, I heard it clearly enough to feel a panicky sensation born of the realization that I might have taken for granted the skills of the Alameda County Bomb Squad. As soon as I went outside, however, it was clear that all was well: the general theme of the onlookers’ conversation was “Oh my God, I have to call So-and-So. She’ll never believe this.

Word on the street (and from the San Francisco Chronicle, whose word is only slightly better than that from the street) is that the person they suspected of setting the nonexistent bomb is angry about being arrested earlier today. Apparently, he was intimidating witnesses at an ongoing murder trial. This makes perfect sense to me. After all, what better way to illustrate that one is not a threat than to leave an explosive device in your car?

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1. 1

   Anonymous said,

   June 11, 2006 @ 10:14 am

   How much of our tax money was wasted on this “bomb”? I would estimate $100,000 or more. Has this bomb squad ever found a real bomb? Would these idiot donut eaters recognize a bomb if they ever saw one? This looks to me like a case of serious paycheck padding.

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