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D.C. Police Detonate Man's 'Suspicious' Pressure Cooker

Posted by Soulskill on from the dozens-more-suspected-at-local-department-store dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Yesterday evening in Washington D.C., police officers on routine patrol spotted an unoccupied car parked near the National Mall. They deemed it "suspicious," and took a look inside, where they found a pressure cooker. They also claimed to smell gasoline. The officers called the bomb squad, and at 7:45pm they initiated a controlled detonation of the car's contents. Afterward, a search of the car found no evidence that it contained explosives or any other hazardous materials. The car's owner was located and arrested for driving on a revoked license.

18 of 461 comments (clear)

  1. did they damage the car? by Chirs · · Score: 3, Insightful

    and if so, did they reimburse the guy?

    1. Re:did they damage the car? by russotto · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They broke the rear window and blew up the pressure cooker outside the car. Reimburse? No, they didn't reimburse him; instead they arrested him for operating a vehicle after license revocation, just to cover up for their incompetence. Obviously if a car belonging to someone has moved, it must be that person who moved it, right?

    2. Re:did they damage the car? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Paranoia, it's what terrorists want. It looks like they have thoroughly and completely beaten the government of the USA.

    3. Re:did they damage the car? by Known+Nutter · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Obviously if a car belonging to someone has moved, it must be that person who moved it, right?

      Well, sure. If he told the investigators that he drove it there... which is not entirely out of the realm of possibility. But that doesn't fit it with the "every cop is an incompetent boob running around crushing the liberties of the citizenry" theory, does it?

      --
      Beware of the Leopard.
    4. Re:did they damage the car? by jvkjvk · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Oh boy are you misguided.

      You can certainly unintentionally confess to a crime. Never talk to the police except through your lawyer.

    5. Re:did they damage the car? by Calydor · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's funny how there's more than one kind of terrorism, right?

      Terrorism is by definition actions meant to spread fear; it doesn't HAVE to be violent. It doesn't HAVE to be done by muslim extremists. It just has to make people afraid.

      Like the risk of having the police blow up (the contents of) your car because they (claim they) can smell gasoline. On a vehicle propelled by gasoline.

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    6. Re:did they damage the car? by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You can certainly unintentionally confess to a crime. Never talk to the police except through your lawyer.

      Thank you, Mister Rockefeller, but what about all the poor schmoes who don't have a lawyer on retainer? They shouldn't have to worry about being shaken down by the cops, either.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    7. Re:did they damage the car? by ultranova · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Don't attribute to malice that which can be blamed on stupidity.

      The problem is, stupidity is sufficient. The police don't need to be actively malicious if their institutional culture - "the brainwashing they've been given" - constantly prompts them to perform unfair and destructive actions.

      Also, you're wrong. "Naturally enough, when they realized they fucked up they looked around for a way to cover their ass and saw the guy had a revoked license." Yes, it's perfectly natural to sacrifice a bystander to save your own skin. It's also not something you can blame on stupidity. It's deliberate, selfish cowardice.

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

  2. Okay... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "...an odor of gasoline was detected"

    In a fucking gasoline-powered car. Where do they find these geniuses?

  3. I did not know... by fustakrakich · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You need a license to own a parked car? Was he seen "operating" the vehicle?

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  4. Re:No pressure by intnsred · · Score: 5, Insightful

    True, and accurately summed up decades ago by Orson Welles when he said, "A policeman's job is only easy in a police state."

  5. Re:Mental Note by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If your license is revoked, don't drive with a pressure cooker.

    If your license is revoked, don't store a pressure cooker in your parked car.

  6. Re:Not pointless... by kheldan · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Pretty much this. "We fucked up and embarassed ourselves, so we're going to take it out on you because we can". That's what it reads like. Was the guy who owned the car black, too?

    --
    Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
  7. Re:Not pointless... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not a crime to have your car parked somewhere if you have a suspended/revoked license

  8. Re:Not pointless... by mysidia · · Score: 5, Insightful

    but it would seem that the guy was driving on a suspended or revoked license

    He was not caught by police driving on a suspended driver's license: his car was parked at the time, so there should be no probable cause to arrest.

    Someone else can still drive the vehicle for him.

    Also, the police should have to pay for replacement of his vehicle and replacement of his pressure cooker, before he can be arrested. As I see it, right now: so far: the police have committed the bigger crime, which is wanton destruction of property.

  9. Re:Not pointless... by russotto · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Also, given the area described, it was parked more or less in front of the Capitol Reflecting Pool, which is not an area where people tend to park and sit for long periods of time.

    Really? Then why was there a parking meter there?

  10. Re:Not pointless... by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Do you think quoting my post line by line makes you sound like less of an absolutist idiot? "

    Just accept the fact that he buried your ridiculous post, line by line, and exposed you as the idiot that you truly are :-)

    --
    Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  11. Re:Not pointless... by mrchaotica · · Score: 5, Insightful

    But it's reality in this era.

    FUCK YOU and FUCK YOUR "THIS ERA" BULLSHIT!

    You know what the reality of "this era" is? The reality is that we as Americans are safer (from all types of crime, including "terrorism") than at any point in history, and that DHS or other "anti-terrorism" jackbooted thugs have had NOT ONE GODDAMN THING to do with it!

    The reality is that some terrorists got lucky ONCE, and shit-for-brains sheeple like you are letting the authoritarian powermongers in our government use that as an excuse to flush our civil rights down the toilet. Knock it off, dipshit!

    --

    "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz