Tremont Street around 10 a.m. Photo by Marc W.
Police shut the large intersection around 9:45 a.m. due to a suspicious package under a bus. A T spokesman says:
The Route 66 bus operator says a passenger exited the vehicle, and dropped an object under the bus.
The Globe reports it was a plastic chocolate-milk bottle.
Somebody who was on the bus reports the incident was way sketchier than initially reported:
What happened was the man was digging in the trash. he had something a black object in his hands and started shooving his hands under the wheel of the bus. (why would someone be shoving their hands up and on the wheel of the bus...IDK). He got on his phone right after. When he noticed that people were noticing him he dug in the trash and threw the bottle under the bus.
An explosives-sniffing dog was brought in and a wrecker summoned to carefully move the bus so that bomb-squad members can get a better look at the item.
The wrecker moved the bus around 10:25 and Transit explosives experts carefully moved in to take a look.
Workers and students at the Harvard School of Public Health on Huntington Avenue were told to stay inside.
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Comments
Are you kidding me??
By Kaz
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 10:26am
The terrorists have definitely won if you can't indiscriminately litter without someone calling in the bomb squad, a tow truck being required to lift a bus off of a soda bottle, and the entire area shut down at the end of the morning rush.
What the hell, people? Get a grip.
So I take it despite the army
By anon
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 10:35am
So I take it despite the army of cops deployed to the incident that the littering scumbag still got away?
I was actually on this bus.
By anon
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 10:40am
I was actually on this bus. Trust me it was way sketchier then it sounds on here. What happened was the man was digging in the trash. he had something a black object in his hands and started shooving his hands under the wheel of the bus. (why would someone be shoving their hands up and on the wheel of the bus...IDK). He got on his phone right after. When he noticed that people were noticing him he dug in the trash and threw the bottle under the bus.
BETTER SAFE THEN SORRY. SEE SOMETHING SAY SOMETHING
Yes, because it's safe to wait
By anon
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 11:16am
for a wrecker to move the bus rather than moving the bus yourself.
BETTER SAFE THEN SORRY. SEE
By Saul
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 11:24am
I see someone who doesn't know the difference between "then" and "than".
Unless you mean, "Better to be safe. But then you're sorry." Which is probably more apt anyway.
Thank you Saul for Your Keen Observations...
By PageTurner
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 12:04pm
...of something that has nothing to do with this story but serves your own petty sense of PC righteousness.
I see someone who can't WAIT to race in and demonstrate what a shallow dork he is and thus derail any pertinent discussion.
You weren't on the bus, and you still aren't.
Hmm, less than a
By whyaduck
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 12:46pm
sense of "PC righteousness" methinks but more of grammar policing.
Yes, there will always be a person to correct the reporter who writes "detonating an bomb" while appearing to ignore the fact that a bomb exploded.
OMG!
By anon
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 4:19pm
So in other words someone could've just looked under the bus and said "oh, it's a chocolate milk bottle, the guy's a loonybird", but instead we had to call out a small army.
What use is a police force that trembles at the slightest provocation?
Now, now, let's be fair here
By Brad Burns
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 11:39am
I know it is easy to say this sort of thing sitting behind a computer, but this wasn't just an ordinary soda bottle, it was a CHOCOLATE MILK BOTTLE!!!!1!!!111!!!1!
ALL THAT EXTRA SUGAR IN MILK! Surely you understand their fears now?
man picks nose and throws booger under seat...
By anon
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 10:27am
...hazmat enroute, bomb squad on standby!
BPD vehicles
By anon
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 10:30am
Those BPD cars look wimpy and the new paint job is lousy!
The real headline
By Not Logged In f...
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 10:38am
Man Throws Litter Under Bus: MBTA Driver Calls in Bomb Squad, Takes Nice Long Coffee Break
Finally, Addressing the Problem of Litterbugs
By Elmer
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 10:41am
The authorities have been turing a blind eye to litterbugs for far too long! It's fortunate that the bus operator noticed and took quick action to evacuate the bus. Hopefully the bottle will be recovered intact and yield fingerprint and DNA evidence so that the culprit can be swiftly apprehended and punished to the full extent of the law.
I see people throwing bottles and other trash underneath subway cars all the time; if they stop the trains and evacuate the stations every time someone does this, it'll go a long way towards ending littering on the MBTA.
I wonder if they have any
By rafuzo
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 10:45am
I wonder if they have any promising leads
Interesting consideration
By Kaz
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 10:46am
This does happen all the time...so why did this particular bus operator think this particular passenger was so...particular...that they felt threatened and concerned they were about to blow up?
Does the driver have far too active an imagination? Did the passenger threaten the driver before exiting the bus, laughing maniacally, then throwing the bottle under the bus while drawing their thumb across their neck menacingly? Was the passenger wearing a turban? Was the driver just looking for a way to stop having to drive the 66 bus for a few hours in relief? Would the driver careen off the highway if the car ahead of them tossed an apple core out the window?
It was probably some
By H
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 10:57am
It was probably some over-excited passenger/vigilante who reported it, and the bus driver was required to call it in.
Words can't express
By RhoninFire
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 11:47am
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Whom to praise?
By adamg
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 11:57am
Jon Strauss asks:
Disturbing the Peace and Inhibiting Mass Transit
By Elmer
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 12:08pm
Channel 7 just reported the bottler was apprehended and will be charged with Disturbing the Peace and Inhibiting Mass Transit. They also said he was dressed in Middle Eastern garb and appeared to be in need of medical attention.
person in question
By anon
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 1:00pm
I drove right by this stop around 9:00am. There was a man dressed in full white garb sitting on the bench. Appeared to be waiting for the bus, was looking off into space. i wonder if it was the same person.
Please don't be an Arabic name...
By Kaz
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 1:41pm
Please don't be an Arabic name...please don't be an Arabic name...
WCVB:
DAMNIT!
yeh
By anon
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 11:30pm
Yeh I seen the man when the police were questioning him. It was definitely a man in full white.
And verily
By Sock_Puppet
Fri, 08/23/2013 - 5:22am
I say to thee, milk which is brown is an abomination in the eyes of the Lord
When Things Like This Happen
By PageTurner
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 12:17pm
...and the comments follow, why is it that a few are serious and the rest of the remarks are filled with are people flaming each other, making selfish remarks,insulting institutions or people they know nothing about because they were delayed 10 minutes to get a meal 'Their Way' at McDonalds?
It is mean spirited.
Jokes and puns are fine!
We are [still] sitting ducks for a stealth attack. Americans are too complacent and weirdly entitled. We think 'oh it won't happen here' but it can and it probably will. Remember the Marathon Bombs?
Try looking around and thinking about something beside yourself, and stop putting people down who think there might be something wrong or suspicious.
Good points...
By whyaduck
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 12:55pm
Monday morning quarterbacking does run rampart with a few commenters.
If you were not on the bus, you do not know what happened.
I do know that just a few scant months ago, Boston experienced the explosion of two powerful homemade bombs. I do not find it unreasonable that if some person is trying to shove a bottle under a bus (per first hand account), knowing that bombs can be made from bottles, nevermind that the action is out of the ordinary, that it made folks nervous.
So you get delayed - better delayed than blown up.
Uhm
By BostonUrbEx
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 2:08pm
He picked a bottle out of the trash and put it under the bus.
Money don't grow on trees, and bombs don't spawn in trash barrels.
His accomplice could have
By jfc
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 2:56pm
His accomplice could have put the "bomb" in the trash barrel just before the bus arrived. This could have been a practice run to see how their plan to blow up a bus would play out.
Terrorists in the ME have
By anon
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 3:54pm
Terrorists in the ME have been known to hide explosives in soda cans. Many people from Lebanon, Israel, Syria, Iraq, the Pali Territories, etc. have kicked a can left seemingly innocently in the street only to have a leg blown off.
You answered your own question
By Kaz
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 1:07pm
This statement is true whether we do or do not shut down a major local intersection and investigate a piece of trash tucked into a wheel well.
This is why we ask the questions. Think about something besides yourself and your worries about being attacked. Delays like this don't just cost time, but money as well. Acting scared costs us much more than "keeping calm and carrying on". Yes, for someone somewhere out there, the stakes are high and they will die to a terrorist-related attack. We will be right to mourn them and support their loved ones that remain. But to aggressively over-pursue ghosts that don't exist leaves us far weaker in the long run than whatever appearance of security it provides. That is exactly how terrorism works and what makes it a continuingly attractive method for effecting change by less-organized elements that would want to see harm done to us.
Busy bodies with no Life-
By Toneye
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 3:33pm
Why bother explaining 'Kaz'?
These are mostly Monday morning quarter backers with no life! These people are probably the ones that walk around with their smart phones, head down, not paying attention to the world around them, then wonder why someone snatched that phone out of their hand!
I'm just upset they didn't charge him with 'littering' too!
It won't happen.
By anon
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 1:10pm
Dudley Square is not going to be blown up by a terrorist. If you think it will then you must be completely paranoid. If this had happened before 9/11 people would just think the guy was a loon. But now we have to deal with the over zealous (because it makes them look good) cops shutting everything down every time someone seeing a plastic bottle rolling in the wind. The "see something say something" mentality only leads to wastes of time and money. Now the poor freak who did this is being charged with actual crimes. THAT is ridiculous. He did absolutely nothing more than litter, which is ticketable at most.
Not Dudley
By anon
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 1:53pm
This is Mission Hill / Brigham Circle home to multiple hospitals. Terrorists across the globe have targetted hospitals in past attacks, so I'm fine with being delayed, or the loss of money that is incurred with this type of response.
So Says the Ostrich in Dudley Square
By PageTurner
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 2:27pm
Freak indeed. There are a lot of unbalanced people roaming around under the guise of appearing "balanced" these days.
Dudley is a major bus hub for
By anon
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 2:29pm
Dudley is a major bus hub for some of the most crowded lines in the city. If that's not a potential target for whackos looking to do harm then I don't know what is.
No worries!
By Matthew
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 2:52pm
We're protected from terrorist attack by the valiant efforts of politicians and bureaucrats to keep everything in crumbling and deteriorating condition:
Al-Qaeda Claims U.S. Mass Transportation Infrastructure Must Drastically Improve Before Any Terrorist Attacks
You complain about people
By JF
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 3:56pm
You complain about people flaming one another and making selfish remarks and insults and yet you say jokes and puns are fine. Perhaps what you really mean is: jokes and puns [that I think are funny] are fine [and I will judge those who don't conform to my standards.]
Casting blanket aspersions about Americans being complacent and entitled at least as mean spirited than someone being sarcastic about the misperceived dangers of a chocolate milk bottle.
What is worse is an institutionalized and pervasive sense of paranoia and fear evoked by phrases like "stealth attack" or "remember the marathon bomber" as if we don't live every waking moment of our life considering the ninja's and jihadists lurking around every corner. Oh, wait, that's right. We don't live that way and we shouldn't. Yes, we remember the marathon bombings, and 9/11, and the Maine and we, as ordinary complacent entitled citizens combat those real villains and imaginary boogie men by living our lives in spite of them.
Thanks for this post, I had
By anon
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 11:32pm
Thanks for this post, I had forgotten about the marathon bombings until I saw it.
As usual the usual UHUB
By anon
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 12:56pm
As usual the usual UHUB know-it-alls who were probably nowhere near the scene somehow feel compelled to make their snarky comments.
Gee, 18 comments in and no one has used the phrase "security theater." I was just watching the report on Channel 5 news and no this wasn't some "indiscriminate littering."
The person was acting like he was intentionally placing the device under the bus.
And to answer the question some of you have been asking, the police to have a person in custody. He is identified by name on the WCVB site.
OMG
By anon
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 3:15pm
he was ACTING???? Well, we certainly can't allow that.
No acting allowed
By Sock_Puppet
Fri, 08/23/2013 - 5:23am
In the Security Theatre
Surely
By anon
Fri, 08/23/2013 - 8:44am
Preventing Bad Actors is what Security Theatre is all about?
Should this be a thing?
By Kaz
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 1:23pm
I can see it now. People will go around town with chocolate milk bottles and instagraming/tweeting themselves tucking them into conspicuous places. We'll call it #milkbombing.
Your earlier point about
By issacg
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 2:26pm
Your earlier point about delays is well taken, however, in the heat of the moment, unless you can clearly see and determine that the object is innocuous, how is anyone supposed to know that?
Forget about "terrorism" for a moment - how is anyone supposed to know that this person is not "merely" trying to sabotage the bus (e.g., perhaps after arguing with the driver - it's not like there isn't a hell of a lot of that going on around here) and cause an accident?
If I'm on that bus, or on the sidewalk, and I watch someone put something into the wheel well of the bus, you bet your ass that I am going to say something to the driver or otherwise report it unless I am damn sure it innocuous. I would hope that others would do the same.
We can argue about how my report should be responded to (i.e., does the bomb squad show up, or just a T supervisor to check it out), but a response of some kind is definitely warranted.
The absurdity of security theater
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 5:13pm
Makes me wonder if I really want to come back to the US so soon. Maybe I'll just apply for a job at the WHO ... I'm surprised that the US has yet to declare war on shadows.
Swirly, I'm still waiting for your report...
By issacg
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 9:51pm
on why the street cars (or, as they are called in Zurich, trams) seem to work so much better than the Green LIne, notwithstanding that they are like the E line west of Brigham Circle.
Also, if you haven't taken the tram to the Zurich streetcar museum, and you still can, do it.
Safe travels.
Only here for one night
By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 08/23/2013 - 4:33pm
... and the place is rocking!
Flying out of Zurich tomorrow, but before that I spent most of the week in Basel, and the secret is no secret there - trams own the damn roads! Well, trams AND bikes. Cars are guests and have to submit.
How is it that Basel has one of the highest percentages of car-free households in Europe?
First of all, extensive tram networks interlaced at key intersections. Also, extensive connections with the frequent articulated buses that run the hill routes.
Secondly, trams trams trams all the time - headway at rushour for any given line is 2-3 minutes.
Third, you get tram with your hotel! And tram with your job, tram with your university, tramly tram, trammable tram!
Fourth, NO PARKING in the central city. Yep NO PARKING. Meanwhile, the city seems to support serious retail in most transit plazas - like 3 H&Ms thriving. No empty storefronts, either!
Bikes everywhere, too - as in Munich and Dresden and Berlin, many are outfitted as the family transit option. Even small kids ride geared bikes with their parents (although Swiss kids seem to end up on tandems due to the hills and rails and trams).
I thought to myself "Matthew on UHub's Heaven!".
I'm flattered
By Matthew
Fri, 08/23/2013 - 5:35pm
You're tens of thousands of miles from home, in what sounds to be a fun and exotic country, and thinking of me, someone you've never met. :)
Uhm, they DID declare war on shadows
By BostonUrbEx
Fri, 08/23/2013 - 8:33am
Even as recently as what, 10 months ago? At the Copley Place meetings, residents were complaining that a building to the north of them would cast shadows on them. Beyond the absurdity of such thought, why the hate for shadows? It's a damn war, I tell ya'.
Two reasons for this
By roadman
Fri, 08/23/2013 - 2:09pm
First, NIMBYs can't come up with any legitimate reasons to block projects. So they resort to using arguments like "harmful shadow effect" that are based totally on junk science.
Second, our bass-akwards system on environmental review supports such idiotic arguments by accepting them on face value and requiring the project proponent to refute the claims, instead of requiring the NIMBYs to prove them.
Imagine if you were empaneled on a jury and the judge told you the defendant is presumed by the court to be guilty of all charges, and it's the defendant's responsibility to prove their innocence beyond a reasonable doubt. Sadly, that's exactly what any project proponent faces every day - guilty until proven innocent.
Everyone needs to evacuate Boston immediately!
By Kaz
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 1:26pm
Look out! It's gonna blow!
[img=495x743]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2...
#1 - Security Theater
By polarbare
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 1:31pm
#2 - Praise be to God that it wasn't an umbrella!
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/04/19/burlington-mall-closed-after-reports-of-a-gunman-inside/
...and he asked me,
By bikergeek_not_l...
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 3:53pm
"What were you arrested for, kid?" and I said, "Litterin'" and they all moved away from me on the bench there, until I said "and creatin' a nuisance" and they all moved back....
What I wouldn't give...
By Kaz
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 4:47pm
I feel like someone should drive Arlo in from the Berkshires to give an impromptu concert on that corner.
I bet he'd get a kick out of it if Mr. Ibrahim waived his Miranda Rights just to say, "You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant".
Sorry gang
By anon
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 5:19pm
Arlo hasn't performed "Alice's Restaurant" in public for several years now.
bring out the 8x10 color glossy photos
By issacg
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 10:02pm
and I'm happy to say that I was at one of those public performances, at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton - and it was fabulous.
As was I
By roadman
Mon, 08/26/2013 - 11:43am
when I attended a free concert by Arlo on the Fenway in 1979. And his "live" version of Alice's (at least that night) was considerably longer than the recorded version. Which made the line "Remember Alice? This is a song about Alice." all the funnier.
ch 159 section 31?
By anon
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 5:58pm
They charged him with interfering with public transportation which talks about explosives or destructive devices. I wasn't there but it sounds like they rounded up the usual suspect who placed a carton of milk then again it might have been spoiled milk.
There's No Use Crying Over Spilled Spoiled Milk
By Elmer
Thu, 08/22/2013 - 7:49pm
.
Incindiary device
By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 08/23/2013 - 4:37pm
Does this mean I can call the police and bomb squad the next time some masshole flings a lit ciggy?
Not like flung ciggies haven't caused a lot of damage around these parts.
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