Bogus Bomb Closes Freeway, Snarling Rush-Hour Traffic
A package apparently designed to look like a bomb shut down a 2 1/2-mile stretch of the San Diego Freeway in both directions for almost two hours during the Friday evening commuter crunch before police experts were able to determine that it wasn’t the real thing.
Thousands of motorists were detoured onto crowded Westside streets while the bomb squad warily studied the package, which a passerby saw on a shoulder of the freeway near Palms Boulevard.
In the end, the bomb squad decided it was just a bunch of road flares.
“They were loose flares bundled up and taped together,” said Lt. John Dunkin, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department. “Once it was determined they were flares, they were disposed of.”
Dunkin said the wrapped-up flares were connected to a nine-volt battery so they looked like an explosive device. Who assembled it, and why, remained a mystery.
What is known is that it made an already hectic commute for motorists even worse.
“Generally speaking, traffic is pretty bad during Friday rush hour anyway,” LAPD Officer Arthur Holmes said. “This just exacerbated the problem.”
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
