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D.C. Police Detonate Man's 'Suspicious' Pressure Cooker
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.
To the best of my recollection, there is no legal parking on that section of 3rd Street, NW or SW, near the National Mall. If you illegally park your car near the US Capitol Building you should probably expect some scrutiny. If you have a pressure cooker inside in the day and age of improvised explosive devices you should expect further scrutiny. Is the latter bit "fair?" Maybe not. But it's reality in this era.
If the police don't investigate an illegally parked car near a sensitive structure they're grossly negligent. If the investigation reveals you broke the law to get the car there, well, you're going to get charged. If this gentleman was driving on a suspended license it was only a matter of time before he got charged anyway; he just managed to do it in a high profile fashion, vs. the thousands of idiots doing the exact same thing that get picked up in a more mundane fashion every day of the week.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Yeah, usually from authoritarians who think it's perfectly OK to enforce laws which they couldn't be bothered to actually enact.
Like its gas tank?
It was revoked. Did you know that in the District of Columbia, the Mayor or his representative can revoke your license for any reason at all, and the only appeal is to the Mayor?
Sure, why not? Now they can leverage dropping that charge against his not filing a lawsuit for the damage to his car.
I don't know about you, but I've never been pulled over for a routine traffic stop when I wasn't driving.
Right, because having a car parked with an item in it that is sold at most department stores and kitchenware stores is reasonable cause to blow up someone's property. And I guess everyone better start driving electric cars if they don't want the police to blow up their stuff too.
And sure driving with a revoked license is illegal, but the car was parked. Now the person involved may have been stupid enough to say he drove it there, or the police might be making that up like they often do. It'd be nice to be in a country where the word of a police officer could be trusted, but the US isn't such a place - and no not all police are going to make stuff up to protect themselves but enough have and then not been charged with filing a false report that it's rational to not trust any of them. Just like when the 8 year old says "no I didn't I eat those cookies" when found next to the now empty cookie jar it's rational to not just trust them at their word.