Times Square shaken up again, by abandoned cooler
A cooler holding bottled water and books was left on a Times Square sidewalk, prompting police to clear thousands of people and call in the bomb squad Friday, less than a week after a Pakistani American claiming to have militant links allegedly tried to blow up an SUV a block away.
Three blocks were closed to pedestrians and traffic for a little more than an hour, starting about 1:15 p.m., after someone noticed the cooler near 46th Street and Broadway. The area, which last year was turned into a pedestrian mall outfitted with chairs, cafe tables and umbrellas, was crowded with people enjoying lunch outside on the warm afternoon.
An investigation of the cooler, including an X-ray, showed no danger.
It was the second major street closure in the city as a result of jitters since Saturday’s failed car bombing. Late Wednesday, the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, which links Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx, was closed after someone reported seeing a man fleeing from an abandoned U-Haul truck that smelled of gasoline. The bomb squad declared the vehicle safe and reopened the bridge hours later.
The driver may have fled because the truck had been reported stolen, the Associated Press reported Friday.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said calls to report suspicious packages are “fairly regular” and have gone up about 30% since Saturday. Usually, the police field 90 to 100 such calls daily. “I think to a certain extent, people are becoming more suspicious, more vigilant, and that results in more calls,” he said Friday.
Times Square soon was back to normal, with people lined up at the half-price TKTS booth to get last-minute deals on Broadway shows.
Sylvia Thompson said she had come to Manhattan on a whim from neighboring New Jersey to get tickets to see “West Side Story,” thinking the crowds would be lighter because of last weekend’s bomb scare. “Maybe I was wrong,” Thompson said, eyeing the throngs jockeying for space in the TKTS line. “I guess New Yorkers are just used to strange things happening.”
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