New York, NY – The suspicious truck abandoned on the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge appears to have been stolen by a conventional car thief — not a terrorist, police said Thursday.
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The incident last night shut down the bridge in all directions for about three hours, and sparked fears of another potential car bomb.
The vehicle — a U-Haul truck with Arizona license plates — was abandoned about 100 yards from a toll plaza on the Bronx side at 9:40 p.m.
The driver fled on foot, carrying a white bag in his hand and running toward Queens. A responding officer with the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority reported smelling gas, (as was reported here on Vos Iz Neias).
The NYPD’s Bomb Squad responded, and officers X-rayed the vehicle and cut a hole in its side. There were no devices or explosives inside and there was no gas leak.
Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, the NYPD’s top spokesman, said Thursday that investigators are fairly certain the driver, who is still being sought, is not a terrorist or someone doing a dry run in advance of an act of terror.
“We think, preliminarily, that it’s a conventional perp,” he said.
The truck was stolen from a U-Haul lot on East 138th St., he said.
They absolutely did the right thing, although he should have been tackled and treated as a potential terrorist, if only to demonstrate to anyone else who may be thinking of trying to pull this.
After seeing the price of the toll, he abandoned the truck. It was cheaper.
They aren’t focusing on the important part. This “Simple car thief” they couldn’t catch. Even though he fled on foot off a bridge.
Wow. He isn’t a “dumb” car thief!
The guy realizde that the toll plazas have cameras and that they would be able to identify him when realizing the truck had been stolen!
he most likley found himself without money in his pocket so he chose the easy way
How are they so sure that this wasn’t a dry run to see how fast emergency crews will show up?
The amount of terror threats/attempts/scares is really scaring me. Something is bound to happen, and our “mighty” police force and Homeland Security will not be able to stop it C”V.
Hashem, protect Klal Yisroel!