Gret job Brownie!
Fake Bomb Cripples La Guardia
AL BAKER and LIZ ROBBINS
Published: August 1, 2009
A man with a fake bomb hidden in a bag tried to board a flight at La Guardia Airport’s central terminal just before sunrise on Saturday, the authorities said, crippling operations for hours and irritating travelers.
Passengers walked toward the main terminal at LaGuardia Airport as it reopened after an evacuation on Saturday.
The thousands of passengers who had arrived for early-morning flights were forced to evacuate for nearly three hours, creating a domino effect of car and foot traffic that caused chaos during one of the busier travel days of the summer.
By the afternoon, even after the terminal reopened, scores of flights were delayed, and tempers were flaring. Long lines snaked around the curbs for baggage check-in, and frustrated passengers jostled inside. One woman tripped over a bag and, instead of leaving for Aruba, left La Guardia in an ambulance.
Limousine drivers who were waiting to pick up passengers created a traffic jam that extended onto the Grand Central Parkway. Vans carrying airline crews were caught in the tie-up, causing further flight delays.
The episode that ignited the day of travel nightmares began at 5:05 a.m., when a man who was apparently intoxicated walked up to the United Airlines ticket counter in Concourse C, said John Kelly, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The ticket agent noticed the man’s strange behavior and alerted Transportation Security Administration officials.
Two Port Authority officers, Robert Keane and Thomas Sullivan, approached the man, who was disheveled and unresponsive, Mr. Kelly said. The officers noticed wires, which seemed to be connected to a switch, sticking from his duffel bag. The officers quickly separated the man from the bag and got him on the ground. At that point, about 5:30, the evacuation was set in motion.
The police arrested the man, identified as Scott McGann, 32, of Manhattan. Mr. McGann “did not say a single word,” Mr. Kelly said.
Some passengers who had been cleared through security were taken to gates at other terminals, which continued to operate, Mr. Kelly said. Officers from the police bomb squad arrived and discovered that Mr. McGann’s bag contained batteries and wires with what looked like an electrical power strip with a toggle. They eventually determined it was not a bomb.
Mr. McGann was charged with three felonies: placing a false bomb, placing a false bomb in a transportation facility and making terrorist threats. He was in Queens Criminal Court for arraignment Saturday night, but a judge instead ordered Mr. McGann to receive a psychiatric evaluation, said the Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown. He is due back in court Aug. 6.
“The guy is collared, and the bomb is not a bomb,” Mr. Kelly said.
According to law enforcement officials, Mr. McGann had been arrested on June 4, accused of grabbing court paperwork, then running down a hall of a city court building at 346 Broadway in Manhattan. According to a criminal complaint, he was charged with tampering with physical evidence and criminal tampering, and that case is pending.
At La Guardia, Mr. McGann had a boarding pass for United Airlines Flight 667 to O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, said a law enforcement official who requested anonymity because of the continuing investigation. From Chicago, Mr. McGann was scheduled to fly to Denver, and then to Oakland, Calif., the official said. Mr. McGann appeared “highly intoxicated,” he said.
By 11 a.m., all the concourses in the central terminal had been reopened, including Concourse C, which serves United Airlines, United Express and American Eagle.
A spokeswoman for American Airlines and American Eagle said that 18 flights had been canceled, and that the carriers were experiencing delays of 50 minutes to more than two hours. A spokesman for United Airlines said two flights had been canceled and five delayed.
The runways never closed, Mr. Kelly said. Flights bound for New York from Boston, Cleveland, Washington and Canada were grounded from 6:30 a.m. to 10 a.m., said Holly Baker of the Federal Aviation Administration.
What started as a security scare turned into annoyance.
Anna Mulligan, 59, and her husband, James, 60, had arrived at La Guardia from Staten Island at 3 a.m. for a 6:40 flight on Spirit Airlines to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Their destination was Aruba.
They were at a gate in Concourse B when they were directed to leave the terminal. The Mulligans described a scene of chaos.
People and their baggage clogged the terminals, and Ms. Mulligan caught her foot on some bags and hit the floor. She injured her left knee and hit her head, and left with her husband in an ambulance. To make matters worse, the Mulligans were told their baggage was probably in Florida.
Micheline Maynard and Mick Meenan contributed reporting. |
