Bomb Hoax Snarls Traffic Over Potomac
A man claiming to have a bomb held police at bay for several hours Monday on a Potomac River bridge, snarling morning traffic in the nation’s capital and disrupting Amtrak service along the East Coast.
Sadiq Abubakar drove his car into a barrier on the bridge and refused to let anyone near him for hours. Police negotiated with him via a cordless two-way police phone they used a robot to deliver.
The divorced, unemployed Nigerian national demanded to see his 6-year-old daughter, who lives with her mother in Portsmouth, Va., police said.
He surrendered about 2 p.m. No bomb was found. Authorities said Abubakar had been treated for mental problems since 1991.
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