Two men fooling around with a cigarette lighter that resembled a pistol prompted a massive police response to a McDonald's restaurant in the Garment district Wednesday after a frightened customer mistakenly reported that an armed robbery was in progress.
Officers arriving at the restaurant on Maple Avenue near Olympic Boulevard about 5 p.m. quickly determined that there was no emergency, but the crush of media and police vehicles helped snarl already congested rush-hour traffic.
The two men, both in their 20s, were taken into custody for questioning, police said. Neither man was identified.