Accident, Pipe Bomb Report Snarl Traffic at Rush Hour

A phony pipe bomb and a tractor-trailer that separated forced the closure of two major commuter routes in Ventura during Tuesday afternoon rush hour, authorities said.

A report of a pipe bomb being spotted on the northbound shoulder of California 126, underneath the Victoria Avenue overpass, came in about 5:30 p.m., said Officer Dave Delgado of the Ventura Police Department.

A remote-controlled bomb-retrieving robot from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department was brought in to scoop up the dark-colored, cylinder-shaped stick that had white ends and two wires protruding from one end, Delgado said.

The robot placed the device in a disposal bin and it was taken to another location where bomb experts determined it was a storage container used to encase documents, said Sgt. Paul Higgason of the bomb squad. Detonation was not required, he said.

The incident forced the closure of both east- and westbound lanes of California 126 for more than 30 minutes. Witnesses said the eastbound traffic backup extended more than 2 miles to the Ventura Freeway interchange.

In a separate incident reported at 5:50 p.m., a trailer separated from its tractor in the northbound lanes of the Ventura Freeway, just south of Johnson Road on the Santa Clara River Bridge, and struck a pickup truck.

The incident caused a chain-reaction crash involving a second pickup truck and a minivan, said CHP dispatcher Claude Ball. No one was hospitalized, but witnesses said one man complained of neck pain.

The pileup closed northbound lanes for about an hour, and traffic was detoured off the freeway at Ventura Road, Ball said. Two of the three smaller vehicles in the pileup were towed, Ball said.

According to witnesses, the driver of the tractor-trailer was hauling a passenger car. He was driving in the slow lanes when the trailer came unhinged, witnesses said.