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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.

1 of 461 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Not pointless... by russotto · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Have you ever heard the expression, "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should?"

    Yeah, usually from authoritarians who think it's perfectly OK to enforce laws which they couldn't be bothered to actually enact.

    Fucking common sense says don't park your fucking car a block away from the United States Capitol with anything inside that could be misidentified as an explosive device.

    Like its gas tank?

    It also says you should keep your drivers license current and in good standing.

    It was revoked.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?

    You think they just cited him for that offense without checking to see that he was actually operating the vehicle?

    Sure, why not? Now they can leverage dropping that charge against his not filing a lawsuit for the damage to his car.

    He's not getting the book thrown at him in any of the media accounts I've read, he's getting the same treatment he would have received if he was pulled over for a routine traffic stop.

    I don't know about you, but I've never been pulled over for a routine traffic stop when I wasn't driving.