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Bomb Squad Searches House Over Teenager's Chemistry Experiments

Posted by samzenpus on from the what-are-you-titrating? dept.

McGruber writes: On Wednesday, authorities in the south Fulton County, Georgia town of Hapeville shut down a street for hours and used their bomb squad to search a home. According to the suspect's father, the bomb scare started after his 18-year-old son was arrested for trespassing, entering an abandoned warehouse and salvaging mercury switches, which can be used to detonate explosives. When police searched the teen's home on Virginia Avenue at Rainey Avenue in Hapeville, they said they found chemicals inside. "He's not building bombs. He does do a lot of experiments. A lot of them I don't fully understand, but I'm certain he's not making bombs," said the suspect's father, Allen Mason. Mason says chemistry is his son's hobby and he wants to be a chemical engineer. Mason also said police told him what they found is not illegal to own. One neighbor, who couldn't return home for hours, said he didn't feel the teen was a threat. "I don't see a problem with this, but you have to trust the authorities in they're doing what they think is best," said Curtis Ray. In February 2015, Hapeville authorities evacuated businesses and called out the bomb squad to investigate a pinhole camera that was part of a Georgia University Art Project.

16 of 431 comments (clear)

  1. Like the nazi used to say by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "I don't see a problem with this, but you have to trust the authorities in they're doing what they think is best,"

    1. Re: Like the nazi used to say by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      But why, why, why don't we have more engineers in America. It's because this generation is stupid and lazy.... Hey, that kid is salvaging switches to experiment on! Call in SWAT!

    2. Re: Like the nazi used to say by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You gotta wonder why he thought it was OK to trespass and steal switches though.

      I think "abandoned warehouse" had a lot to do with it. Such abandoned industrial locations certainly were looked at as parts repositories by myself and my friends in our school days. Some of the places we scavenged where shut down 10+ years.

    3. Re: Like the nazi used to say by o_ferguson · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes it does. That's the beauty of the commons. Abandoned things belong to all of use. Especially mercury switches, which are likely the only way this kid can get mercury to experiment with.

      --
      - In Soviet Korea, only old people loose all their bases to Natalie Portman's petrified hot grits overlords.
    4. Re: Like the nazi used to say by Rasperin · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You are right, it doesn't, but good chance we all have done similar. If not, I weep for your young adulthood. It was abandoned and a calculated risk of a kid who couldn't afford to buy his own. This is what we call a gray area, the intention was fine by most but by the law, his life will be ruined in the pursuit of further knowledge.

      Yay America.... Where gaining and pursuing knowledge is socially unacceptable.

      --
      WTF Slashdot, why do I have to login 50 times to post?
    5. Re: Like the nazi used to say by david_bonn · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Oh, and by the way, mercury is a toxic substance with pretty specific rules with respect to disposal. I doubt leaving it in an abandoned warehouse is complying with those rules.

      Seriously, some kid likes to play with chemistry. Good on him.

      I made plenty of bombs when I was a kid. Even had a cop talk to me. All he said was make sure nobody got hurt and don't start a fire you can't put out.

    6. Re: Like the nazi used to say by bearded_yak · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Some kid broke a couple of thermometers in a classroom a couple years ago around here and the EPA was called when word got out to some helicopter parent. They brought in a device to measure the mercury vapor level in the room and the room was declared a hazard after taking the air measurements. The room became a suit-up, limited exposure-time environment while they figured out what to do. Students houses were visited and clothing and shoes bagged for hazmat disposal. Seriously. I believe the room's carpet is now rolled up and buried in a hazardous chemicals disposal facility. The paranoia prevalent today about mercury is ridiculous and is unfortunately being backed up by supposed scientific authorities.

      It's funny that my generation is not the one with all the crazy levels of autism claims, and we're the ones that freely played around with mercury in our chemistry classes.

    7. Re: Like the nazi used to say by davester666 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes, you must BUY things. None of that reuse-crap. Or preventing toxic materials from entering the general environment.

      And whatever corporations must be permitted to abandon their property in whatever condition they want, for the government to later clean up.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    8. Re: Like the nazi used to say by xanthines-R-yummy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm gonna go out on a limb here, but I'm going to guess... his parents?

      I agree with others, that while he might have technically broken the law, there was no real moral rule/law/whatever to break. He was essentially sifting through garbage. Yes, we can quibble over the legal definition of garbage, but the building was abandoned. This is almost a non-story to me. Kid likes science and wants to go ChemE. He starts experimenting on his own and gets nabbed while scavenging for parts. Police investigate (as they should), and find no threat. The end. BFD.

  2. Which can be used to X. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "salvaging mercury switches, which can be used to detonate explosives"
    "...switches, which can be used to detonate explosives"
    "...switches, which are used to detonate explosives"
    "...switches...explosives"
    "...explosives"

    ARREST HIM!!!

    Really? Wires are used to make explosives too. Duct tape is used to make explosives. Solder is used to make explosives.
    What's our plan? Arrest all the electricians, day laborers and jewelry craft hobbyists as terrorists?

    I think we're well past the point of intellect here and it's long since been illegal to be inquisitive and inventive. Don't ask questions, child. Your role is to consume: You should consume. Now go play with this ball...

  3. No local intelligence by Bruce66423 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If the police knew the community, they could have asked about the kid and found out the background. Unfortunately that sort of intelligence - in both senses - is lacking in police forces these days, so they just charge in and make idiots of themselves. Actually the judge that granted the warrant should be shouted at as well - he should have asked those questions...

    1. Re:No local intelligence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Give me any house or apartment to search and I'd be damned surprised if I couldn't find some things that could be used to create explosives.

      Hell, strip the ends off an extension cord, put them in water, plug it in (may need to add a bit of salt for conductivity) and you get a nice mix of H2 and O2 bubbling off. Throw a diode in the circuit if you don't want them mixing at the electrodes (because of the AC).

      A bag of flour (or better, corn starch) can take down a building if you disperse it into the air properly before lighting. If the stove or water heater or furnace is gas powered ... a cubic foot of natural gas is about equivalent to four sticks of dynamite.

      And that's not even getting into the more exotic household or garden chemicals and cleaners.

      "some things that could be used to create explosives" -- no shit, Sherlock.

  4. no you dont by Charliemopps · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "I don't see a problem with this, but you have to trust the authorities in they're doing what they think is best," said Curtis Ray.

    Um... no you don't

  5. Re:"You have to thrust the authorities." by jc42 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Why??

    For their entertainment value? ;-)

    Here in the Boston area, we're still making jokes about the 2007 bomb scare caused by a set of "art works" (actually ads), small electronic displays hung up mostly along main streets around the city. Even the Marathon bombing didn't stop the humor surrounding the police takedown of this "art". Rather, the bombing is generally understood as a major bit of evidence that all the supposed security precautions are worthless. "They can stop street artists (or ad agencies ;-), but they can't stop actual terrorists." We also hear versions of what this story will no doubt trigger: comments to the effect that it's no surprise that the US can no longer match the technology of most 3rd-world countries; just look at what they do to a kid trying to become competent in some technical specialty. They obviously don't want us turning our kids into chemical engineers, or any other kinds of engineers. To the authorities, that stuff looks a lot like terrorism, y'know.

    Stories like this are much of what led to the rise of the phrase "security theater". (If you're not familiar with it, just google it.)

    --
    Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
  6. Next year's budget for Hapeville: no bomb squad by xeno · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The article cites two excellent examples of why the Hapeville bomb squad needs to be dropped from next year's budget. I'm not sure of the county authorities would be any better, but if the local squad's hapless misjudgment of risk leads to wasted funds on response, wasted funds on defending their mistake, wasted funds on legal restitution (I sincerely hope the kid and his parents sue the city), and general loss of reputation for the city... then the bomb squad is a liability in terms of finance, risk, and reputation. The most obvious response is to take the toys away from the idiots.

    Don't fight them, defund 'em.

    --
    I think not...(*poof*)
  7. Is this the brave new world we live in? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    still doesn't give you the right to trespass and steal

    I think I can see the picture now ...
     
    In the brave new world we live in the authority can and will break into people's house with a drop of a hat, and they have that "anti-terrorism" thing to fall back on

    In the same brave new world nobody is permitted to go anywhere, rummage for anything, or they will be charged with 'trespassing', 'stealing', or any kind of trumped up charge TPTB decides to use

    In other words, the people will become timid, self-restricting, and the overlord will get to wield any power they wish

    In case you guys still do not see it yet --- living under this type of "brave new world" is not that much different from living inside area controlled by Islamic State or the North Korean regime