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Mystery copter looking for something on Bellevue Hill
By adamg on Tue, 11/10/2009 - 11:04pm
UPDATE Weds. morning: Local 718 tweets a body was extricated from the quarry off Grove Street around noon. The Boston Police homicide unit is now investigating - they handle both murders and suicides.
A correspondent reports that around 7:15 or so, a helicopter had a searchlight on as it flew around Bellevue Hill in West Roxbury. Anybody know what was up with that?
The hill, the highest natural point in Boston, is home to two MWRA water tanks and a whole lot of trees.
Neighborhoods:
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Comments
I don' t know what it was, but
I noticed it, too. I live closer to the quarry, and it looked like it was doing a big loop including hovering right over the quarry for a bit. I didn't see a search light, though.
Really weird that we can't find out what it was all about. I suppose it was probably doing something good (either police activity or news reporting of some sort), but I have to say it sort of bothers me that helicopters can just fly around and annoy us without us knowing the reason why. I'm not exactly sure why it bothers me, but it just does.
Answer
From a friendly local TV assignment editor: They were looking for a possibly suicidal person.
Here's hoping they found him/her in time.
interesting
Wow, it's interesting they would bring out a big helicopter to help with that. I hope they were able to find the person, too!
Oh, and of course now I feel
Oh, and of course now I feel really shallow for saying that the helicopter was annoying. It's just the last time there was a helicopter (or actually multiple helicopters) it was when the restaurant burned and the two firemen lost their lives. While I think reporting on that story is obviously worthwhile, I don't think helicopter shots are necessary. I think it's just a waste of fossil fuels, really.
In the case of searching for a possibly suicidal person: of course I think it's worth the fossil fuels, and I'd certainly endure the "annoyance" of the helicopter. Really, it's not the noise that bothers me, but rather (like I said above) the potential unnecessary waste of fuel and also not being able to find out what's going on in my own neighborhood. I don't know. I guess I just sound cranky. And maybe I am.
Anyway, good to know there are resources like Universal Hub where I can find out what's going on, even if it's not reported on WBZ or whatever.
The helicopter was annoying?
Do you live in those Charlestown condos?? ;-)
Ever been to Bellevue Hill?
Helicopters can be pretty loud (which I know because we live under the route they take from Norwood to fires/explosions/disasters downtown, and don't think I don't tense up every time one flies overhead because I think, damn, now what's going on?). And Bellevue Hill is this quiet, remote-ish area where nothing ever happens - it's not the sort of place people move to take part in the exciting city life they see in the real-estate ads in Boston magazine - which they probably don't read.
Combine the two and, yeah, I can see how a copter circling overhead could be annoying.
God, I sound suburban. But, again, this isn't Charlestown or the condos next to the South Street Diner.
I should shut up
As I type this, a helicopter is heading north over our house. Dammit, what's just happened downtown? :-).
It was, though
Not knowing why the helicopter was circling for what seemed like a really long time, I did get a little annoyed. I thought it was a news helicopter, and it was very loud and circling pretty low. Then I saw it & saw it wasn't the media and was more worried than annoyed. I thought it might have been circling the quarry.
Thanks for posting the info, I was also curious.
I hope MerlinMurph was just
I hope MerlinMurph was just making a joke and not a smarmy remark, especially considering my followup about sounding shallow. Adam explained it best, I think.
Also, I happen to live on Centre St., across from a bus stop. We get our share of buses, fire engines, quarry trucks (not to mention quarry blasting). It seems West Roxbury is also right under the flight path of lots of planes coming from Logan.
Point is, I'm used to a pretty decent amount of noise, but when you live here (WR as opposed to somewhere downtown or near the Southeast Expressway or something) you don't expect to hear *choppers* hovering/circling. It almost always only means something bad (e.g., the fire at the restaurant and someone suicidal) as opposed to a traffic jam.
suburban
Oh, the horror.
Saigon
Shit. I'm still only in Saigon.
A little obnoxiousness in the spirit of the holiday
If you are at home to be annoyed by the helicopter and are allowed to publicly complain about it ... THANK A VETERAN!
(just a little ironic piling on here ... )
I'm home now
And I made sure to thank my two veteran cow orkers for their service today while I was AT WORK! :o)
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
Sounds like they found the person's body
At the quarry off Grove Street.
Oh, no
That's what I was afraid of. I heard another helicopter & lots of sirens an hour or so ago.
Oh, that's awful. Geez.
Oh, that's awful. Geez.
Body removed
Shortly after noon, from the lip of the quarry. Now the investigation is up to the homicide unit (which handles suicides as well).
is it true
they examine potential murders, suicides, accidental deaths and natural cause deths to determnie if the death was murder or suicide?
Feeling particularly defensive today
I also just wanted to clarify something else: when I said something along the lines of "the last time there was a helicopter, it was because of the fire ..." What I mean was, the last time a helicopter was hovering over my neighborhood, as opposed to just traveling overhead. We get plenty, i mean PLENTY, of helicopters traveling overhead. Mostly, probably, the FOX news helicopter, but also quite a few military helicopters (national guard, I think).
So, it was the hovering and the fact that there was nothing in the news that I found annoying. Not annoyed at anyone in particular. Just annoying.
And again, now that we know the bad news, I feel uber terrible about saying anything.
helicopters
gisele???
Photos from the recovery effort
Local 718 posts photos of the effort to recover the body, on "a shelf in the quarry approximately 80 feet up from the interior roadway and more than 200 feet down from the edge."
Photos
What a lonely, sparse and jagged place to have one's last thoughts.