D.C. Police Detonate Man's 'Suspicious' Pressure Cooker 461
An anonymous reader writes: Yesterday evening in Washington D.C., police officers on routine patrol spotted an unoccupied car parked near the National Mall. They deemed it "suspicious," and took a look inside, where they found a pressure cooker. They also claimed to smell gasoline. The officers called the bomb squad, and at 7:45pm they initiated a controlled detonation of the car's contents. Afterward, a search of the car found no evidence that it contained explosives or any other hazardous materials. The car's owner was located and arrested for driving on a revoked license.
did they damage the car? (Score:4, Insightful)
and if so, did they reimburse the guy?
Re:did they damage the car? (Score:5, Insightful)
They broke the rear window and blew up the pressure cooker outside the car. Reimburse? No, they didn't reimburse him; instead they arrested him for operating a vehicle after license revocation, just to cover up for their incompetence. Obviously if a car belonging to someone has moved, it must be that person who moved it, right?
Re:did they damage the car? (Score:5, Insightful)
Paranoia, it's what terrorists want. It looks like they have thoroughly and completely beaten the government of the USA.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The terrorists are the Federal Government of the United States; their enemy is We the People
Re:did they damage the car? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's funny how there's more than one kind of terrorism, right?
Terrorism is by definition actions meant to spread fear; it doesn't HAVE to be violent. It doesn't HAVE to be done by muslim extremists. It just has to make people afraid.
Like the risk of having the police blow up (the contents of) your car because they (claim they) can smell gasoline. On a vehicle propelled by gasoline.
Re: (Score:3)
I've dealt with a lot of cops over the years. Most of them were okay but there have been a few that were obviously stupid and at least one that was a bully. It happens. I doubt these guys were trying to make anyone afraid. They are most likely just over zealous guys who let their paranoia and the brainwashing they've been given overcome whatever common sense they had. Don't try to make it into something it's not. Years ago, back in the 60's at a place called Kent State the Ohio National Guard shot 4 p
Re:did they damage the car? (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem is, stupidity is sufficient. The police don't need to be actively malicious if their institutional culture - "the brainwashing they've been given" - constantly prompts them to perform unfair and destructive actions.
Also, you're wrong. "Naturally enough, when they realized they fucked up they looked around for a way to cover their ass and saw the guy had a revoked license." Yes, it's perfectly natural to sacrifice a bystander to save your own skin. It's also not something you can blame on stupidity. It's deliberate, selfish cowardice.
Re: (Score:3)
The vastness of your ignorance is astounding, the government of the US has indeed rounded up hundreds convicted of no crime. They have indeed used violence, threats, mass surveillance to subjugate the populace. They have indeed forsaken the guarantees in the Constitution of due process, warrants, trial. Pry your head out of your ass
Re: (Score:3)
> stupidity on the part of a few cops doesn't mean
> we're living under ISIS.
When those cops go unpunished it means we're moving in that direction. I'm not saying that the sky is falling and it's for sure we'll get to the point where it's that bad. But we do have a serious problem with increased militancy on the part of the police and a lack of accountability for their misconduct. And it's not out of line at all to call their pattern of abuse to reigned in and to have the abusers punished.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, sure. If he told the investigators that he drove it there... which is not entirely out of the realm of possibility. But that doesn't fit it with the "every cop is an incompetent boob running around crushing the liberties of the citizenry" theory, does it?
Re: did they damage the car? (Score:2)
What if the reason he left the car there was he legally couldn't move it without a valid license?
Also not every cop is incompetent, but the overwhelming major are disconnected from the people they police, power tripping bullies, disgruntled revenue generators, slow thinkers (aka incompetent) or a combination of the above.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, sure. If he told the investigators that he drove it there
You can't unintentionally confess to a crime. e.g. He can't be called to testify against himself,
Re:did they damage the car? (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh boy are you misguided.
You can certainly unintentionally confess to a crime. Never talk to the police except through your lawyer.
Re:did they damage the car? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:did they damage the car? (Score:4, Insightful)
You can certainly unintentionally confess to a crime. Never talk to the police except through your lawyer.
Thank you, Mister Rockefeller, but what about all the poor schmoes who don't have a lawyer on retainer? They shouldn't have to worry about being shaken down by the cops, either.
Re: (Score:2)
No, but a statement to investigators that he drove the vehicle while his license was revoked establishes probable cause for arrest and/or citation. Which is what TFA says. The police arrested him. Whether or not such a statement can or will be used in court is a separate issue. PC for arrest is established.
The arrest (Score:3, Informative)
Assuming the cops had good cause to check his license, assuming there is little or no doubt about him driving with an expired license (maybe he foolishly admitted it, or maybe he was caught on camera), and assuming the offense is one that routinely results in arrest (vs. a ticket-and-tow as some jurisdictions do) then it's a good arrest.
Without evidence that a motorist with a revoked license would typically only be ticketed (and towed), or lack of evidence that he was the driver, it's premature to claim tha
Re: (Score:3)
...did they reimburse the guy?
They will, likely to an exorbitant extent once he gets a good attorney and sues. The cops are going to have a lot of fun explaining to a judge and jury why they broke into the guys car and blew his stuff up. Especially in view of the fact that they were dead wrong to do so.
Re: (Score:2)
...because, terrorists!
No pressure (Score:5, Funny)
If you can't take the pressure, you shouldn't be a cop.
Re:No pressure (Score:5, Insightful)
True, and accurately summed up decades ago by Orson Welles when he said, "A policeman's job is only easy in a police state."
Re:No pressure (Score:5, Funny)
I guess they just needed to let off some steam.
Okay... (Score:5, Insightful)
"...an odor of gasoline was detected"
In a fucking gasoline-powered car. Where do they find these geniuses?
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
"...an odor of gasoline was detected"
In a fucking gasoline-powered car. Where do they find these geniuses?
The pressure cooker should not have resisted arrest.
Re:Okay... (Score:5, Funny)
The pressure cooker should not have resisted arrest.
Handles up - don't shoot!
Re:Okay... (Score:5, Funny)
In a fucking gasoline-powered car. Where do they find these geniuses?
Sure, but a pressure cooker? What is this, the 70s? Does anyone use them in 2015 for anything _except_ bomb construction and cooking meth?
"Presto Stainless Steel Pressure Cooker (Large) - Customers who bought this item also bought: 'The Al Qaeda Manual' (Kindle Edition) / Potassium Nitrate (5kg) / Casio F-91W Digital Watch / '100 Things to do Before you Die' (Paperback - used from $0.01) / Pseudoephedrine (100 tablets) / 'The Little Book of Calm' (1 Collectible from $9.96)."
Re:Okay... (Score:5, Informative)
They are awesome for cooking potatoes and stews.
Re: (Score:2)
Also for sterilizing stuff. Cheap autoclave.
Of course it's all pre-sterilized disposables these days. Can you even buy glass Petri dishes ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H baby bottles any more?
Petri Dishes?! Bioterrorist, huh? (Score:3)
Maybe culturing some schedule I mushrooms?
When achieving sterility is outlawed, will all the outlaws become sterile?
Re:Okay... (Score:5, Informative)
You don't know much about how to cook, then. Do you think that suddenly, what has worked for cooking in 1970s, doesn't anymore?
Re: (Score:2)
This. Some people microwave and some people cook.
Re:Okay... (Score:4, Informative)
Cooking is subject to trends, if you haven't noticed. Clunky 70s housewife equipment is out of fashion, to say the least.
Umm, while you may call it "clunky," pressure cookers are decidedly in fashion as an appropriate tool used for the right purposes. The cool, hip tech-savvy cooks use them along side their sous-vide machines and blowtorches for a number of important kitchen tasks.
Need examples? Nathan Myrhvold's Modernist Cuisine (2011), one of the recent "bibles" of molecular gastronomy, lauds the pressure cooker, in a list of "invaluable modernist tools" called it "a must-have; essential for stocks, tendering tough grains and seeds," and also noted its usefulness for sterilizing in various kitchen tasks. (For some specific home applications, see, for example, here [modernistcuisine.com].) Harold Blumenthal at The Fat Duck restaurant found that stocks made with pressure cookers were both faster and better-tasting once they understood the effects of diffusion laws on stock making. And here's a whole blog [slate.com] on Slate about their comeback.
I could go on. Pressure cookers may have been "out" a decade ago, but now they're back "in" again... best time to update your kitchen fashion files.
Re: (Score:2)
I realize parent was probably meant to be "funny," but since the post was modded "insightful" by some idiot mods...
Sure, but a pressure cooker? What is this, the 70s? Does anyone use them in 2015 for anything _except_ bomb construction and cooking meth?
Have the laws of physics or chemistry changed since the 1970s?
Pressure cookers cook many things faster, mostly because they are able to achieve higher temperatures. You want to cook dry beans, a pot roast, chicken or beef stock, braised ribs, oxtail soup, whatever.... in 1/3 or 1/4 of the time as usual, pressure cookers still work. And for dishes that usually take 3 or 4 hours minimum to ge
Re:Okay... horseshit (Score:5, Funny)
So you want to encourage people to think those of us using them are out to hurt someone?
You're doing the harm.
The risks of terrorism and illicit drug production are only two of the risks of allowing this dangerous 'dual use' technology to be sold on the open market! A far more insidious problem is the destruction of essential vitamins in the pressure cooking process. Some of these are required for higher brain functions, like the ability to parse textual data for abstract meaning. In one recent study, over 70% of regular pressure cooker users were unable to detect irony, satire or even obvious jokes in posts on internet forums. The end product may be delicious but, like cannabis or Snapchat, the long-term effects on the developing brain can be devastating.
I did not know... (Score:5, Insightful)
You need a license to own a parked car? Was he seen "operating" the vehicle?
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
They revoked his license and then arrested him for driving on a revoked license.
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Washington DC is about 50% black. I'm pretty sure they have drivers licenses at about the same rate as other places.
Why don't you take the race baiting to another site?
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He called a friend with a valid license to drive him into town, in his own car since that could fit the pressure cooker in the back seat.
That's my theory, and at least a plausible explanation.
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And if you're trying to move a pressure cooker around, it's probably 14 years too late to do so on public transportation...
Mental Note (Score:2)
Re:Mental Note (Score:4, Insightful)
If your license is revoked, don't drive with a pressure cooker.
If your license is revoked, don't store a pressure cooker in your parked car.
Re: (Score:2)
If your license is revoked, don't store a pressure cooker in your parked car.
Thanks to the fearmongering industrial complex that's sprung up post 9/11, it's bigger than that. Nowadays, it's "if you live in the US, don't even own a pressure cooker."
An American Tragedy (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
How about just don't drive at all?
Re: (Score:2)
How about just don't drive at all?
That would lead to chaos as society's fabric unwound and everything broke down. How could you suggest such a thing? Why don't you think of the children?
ATHF (Score:2)
Is this a new season's advertising?
Huh? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Any tank should work. A scuba tank for instance. There are no real laws regarding the transportation of compressed air, whereas there are laws regarding the transportation of various gases - inert or otherwise. So, grab a scuba tank, stow that on your back seat where it is clearly visible, and stow some flippers and a bouyancy belt in the trunk, out of sight.
Re: (Score:2)
Well I think that anyone in the New Mexico area that wants to play this came should wander over to Los Alamos.
Although a the article is bit dated, I wonder if their junkyard [time.com] still is open for business.
A station wagon full of Los Alamos parts with a couple of GoPros in and around the vehicle ought to be a very interesting video.
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LOL - it's paywalled, but I got enough of the story to get the picture. I think.
re (Score:3)
the BIG question is
"WHAT WAS IN IT !!!!"
i cook sauerkraut and sausage in mine for outdoor get to together's
and THAT keeps unrefrigerated in the car for a LONG TIME
Re: (Score:3)
What? I've never owned one with a clear lid. They've always been solid metal. You don't typically make pressure vessels out of glass. You're thinking of a crock pot/slow cooker.
You don't say! (Score:2)
They smelled gasoline near a car? How in the world could that happen?
In related news ... (Score:2)
Self-contradictory (Score:2)
If it didn't contain explosives, they couldn't detonate it. They blew it up by detonating something else next to it.
Re: (Score:2)
Unless it was a pressure cooker running Linux.
Not pointless... (Score:2, Insightful)
Especially if the cops revoked the owner's driving license just to accuse him/her of something or other.
And was the owner also the driver? It would have been nice for TFS to mention that.
Re:Not pointless... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
Pretty much this. "We fucked up and embarassed ourselves, so we're going to take it out on you because we can". That's what it reads like. Was the guy who owned the car black, too?
So you are saying that California is a racist police state?
Re: (Score:2)
Pretty much this. "We fucked up and embarassed ourselves, so we're going to take it out on you because we can". That's what it reads like. Was the guy who owned the car black, too?
So you are saying that California is a racist police state?
Whoops, wrong article.
Same snarky question re DC though ...
Re: (Score:3)
Whoops, wrong article.
Are you sure about that? Politico had an article on how GOP Catholics (oxymoron?) felt uncomfortable with the current pope's policies on global warming and Israel. Someone posted a long comment about how California was a failed welfare state with cherry-picked links to conservative "news" articles from several years ago. As a moderate conservative in California, I found the post very offensive. Seems like some posters don't have anything to add to the discussion, just toss in California as a monkey wrench.
Re:Not pointless... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Not pointless... (Score:4, Interesting)
Right, because having a car parked with an item in it that is sold at most department stores and kitchenware stores is reasonable cause to blow up someone's property. And I guess everyone better start driving electric cars if they don't want the police to blow up their stuff too.
And sure driving with a revoked license is illegal, but the car was parked. Now the person involved may have been stupid enough to say he drove it there, or the police might be making that up like they often do. It'd be nice to be in a country where the word of a police officer could be trusted, but the US isn't such a place - and no not all police are going to make stuff up to protect themselves but enough have and then not been charged with filing a false report that it's rational to not trust any of them. Just like when the 8 year old says "no I didn't I eat those cookies" when found next to the now empty cookie jar it's rational to not just trust them at their word.
Re: Not pointless... (Score:3)
Correct! A car parked in that location, unattended, with a pressure cooker inside and a smell of gasoline warrants further action. No problem whatsoever with this. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool.
Re: (Score:2)
Especially if the cops revoked the owner's driving license just to accuse him/her of something or other.
Not to burst your paranoid bubble, but the cops can't just revoke drivers licenses in the United States. Generally speaking, your drivers license can only be revoked or suspended after convictions for certain serious traffic offenses, a combination of convictions for minor traffic offenses, or failure to pay renewal fees when your license expires. A handful of jurisdictions allow the cops to physically take your license when you're cited for DWI; the actual suspension thereof generally occurs at your firs
Re:Not pointless... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not a crime to have your car parked somewhere if you have a suspended/revoked license
Re: (Score:2)
It is though a crime to drive it to a parking lot and park it there if your license has been revoked. I agree it was probably overkill on the part of the police but it's hard to feel sorry for someone who is under the impression the law doesn't apply to him.
Re: (Score:3)
I agree it was probably overkill on the part of the police and it's hard to feel sorry for them when they are under the impression the law doesn't apply to them
FTFY
Get off your high and mighty horse of justice. In many jurisdictions it's very easy to get your license revoked, and you won't necessarily know about it until it's too late (not saying it's necessarily the case here). There's also the fact of if he didn't admit to the police that he had driven himself there, there'd be reasonable doubt to say that someone else drove for him in his vehicle. He didn't have to tell the police anything. "You have the right to remain silent" applies even before you're pla
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
To the best of my recollection, there is no legal parking on that section of 3rd Street, NW or SW, near the National Mall. If you illegally park your car near the US Capitol Building you should probably expect some scrutiny. If you have a pressure cooker inside in the day and age of improvised explosive devices you should expect further scrutiny. Is the latter bit "fair?" Maybe not. But it's reality in this era.
If the police don't investigate an illegally parked car near a sensitive structure they're
Re:Not pointless... (Score:5, Insightful)
FUCK YOU and FUCK YOUR "THIS ERA" BULLSHIT!
You know what the reality of "this era" is? The reality is that we as Americans are safer (from all types of crime, including "terrorism") than at any point in history, and that DHS or other "anti-terrorism" jackbooted thugs have had NOT ONE GODDAMN THING to do with it!
The reality is that some terrorists got lucky ONCE, and shit-for-brains sheeple like you are letting the authoritarian powermongers in our government use that as an excuse to flush our civil rights down the toilet. Knock it off, dipshit!
Re:Not pointless... (Score:5, Insightful)
Really? Then why was there a parking meter there?
Re:Not pointless... (Score:5, Insightful)
but it would seem that the guy was driving on a suspended or revoked license
He was not caught by police driving on a suspended driver's license: his car was parked at the time, so there should be no probable cause to arrest.
Someone else can still drive the vehicle for him.
Also, the police should have to pay for replacement of his vehicle and replacement of his pressure cooker, before he can be arrested. As I see it, right now: so far: the police have committed the bigger crime, which is wanton destruction of property.
Re:Not pointless... (Score:5, Interesting)
Yeah, usually from authoritarians who think it's perfectly OK to enforce laws which they couldn't be bothered to actually enact.
Like its gas tank?
It was revoked. Did you know that in the District of Columbia, the Mayor or his representative can revoke your license for any reason at all, and the only appeal is to the Mayor?
Sure, why not? Now they can leverage dropping that charge against his not filing a lawsuit for the damage to his car.
I don't know about you, but I've never been pulled over for a routine traffic stop when I wasn't driving.
Re:Not pointless... (Score:5, Insightful)
Just accept the fact that he buried your ridiculous post, line by line, and exposed you as the idiot that you truly are :-)
Re:Not pointless... (Score:4, Informative)
Pressure cookers neither explode nor burn, unless you pack them with explosives. Gasoline vapor mixed with air, however, explodes. If you want to make a car bomb, you don't need a pressure cooker. Ask Dateline NBC.
Yes, but you can't get driving on a suspended/revoked license citations while the car is parked. There's a difference: expired registration/inspection applies to the car, revoked license applies to the driver. If my license is revoked, it's still legal for me to allow anyone else with a valid license to drive my car, and it is still legal for the car (assuming its registration and inspection remains valid) to be parked on public streets where parking is permitted. (There was a meter in front of the car, so parking was clearly permitted at least some of the time).
Re:Not pointless... (Score:5, Informative)
You lose. DC Code 50-1403.1(a) and (c).
Re:Not pointless... (Score:4, Informative)
You didn't read 50-1403.1(c) (concerning non-residents), obviously.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
Pay attention, once again: Don't spread bullshit memes that promote irrational fear. If you continue to do so, you are a terrorist. Again, this has nothing to do with any country, government, political, or theo
Re: (Score:2)
From TFA:
Re: (Score:2)
Pressure cookers have also been used to cook delicious meals economically and quickly. That's actually why they're called pressure cookers.
So have cars [amazon.com].
Re: (Score:2)
I remember my mother cooking an old rooster in one. That tough old bird came out tender as a fryer. Hmmmm.....chicken and dumplings. Yum!
Re: (Score:2)
Oklahoma City can attest to that.
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Actually - yes. It does sound like they blew up a pressure cooker just for fun. Bullshit and paperwork? It's worth it, to some cops, if they can just get an adreneline rush out of it. WTF? They let the guy go, right? Obviously, they had NOTHING!
Re: (Score:2)
Probably the same guy that tried to blow up the chemical lab in junior high school.
Re: (Score:2)
Could be but it seems like a lot of people with a little authority start to get an "the end justifies the means" kind of mentality. They mean well but it creates a lot of hell.
Re: (Score:3)
about the same time when we regressed 10,000 years and began fearing any unknown object as it may be the end of our civilization as we know it.
Re:i feel sorry for the poor guy. (Score:5, Funny)
blowing up peoples personal property because they have a pressure cooker.
Well, apparently it was an explosive pressure cooker, because they managed to detonate it.
Re: (Score:2)
They use a charge to "detonate" it. Apparently, the cooker didn't blow up. They released the guy with a stupid ticket for driving on a revoked license. You think he would have walked if five pounds of explosives had gone off when the cops "detonated" it?
Re: (Score:2)
So they didn't detonate it, but they blew it up.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, they blew it up. With their own explosives. That doesn't mean the device was explosive before the bomb squad showed up.
If you leave your backpack unattended at the airport, the bomb squad will take it away and detonate it. Your backpack will blow up even if it only had clothes and a vibrating dildo in it.
Re: (Score:2)
The word "detonate", used as a transitive verb means: to trigger an explosive object. You can detonate a bomb, but you can't detonate a door.
Re: (Score:2)
Your backpack will blow up even if it only had clothes and a vibrating dildo in it.
Now... what happens if you're one of those enthusiast preppers and accidentally left behind a backpack full of accessories and water containers heavily shielded with blastproof heat-resistant armor, and latched up tight with blastproof padlocks [amazon.com]? :)
Re:i feel sorry for the poor guy. (Score:5, Informative)
Careful attention to terminology is important. In point of fact, they use an explosive charge of their own, carefully configured and arranged in a manner which they hope will touch off any explosive contained in the pressure cooker. Of course, the police spokesman used outlandish terms in her press release. They "disrupted" the pressure cooker? Jesus - I've never heard a military man use the term "disrupted". It's far more accurate when we say, "We blew it to fuck!"
In point of fact, the cops detonated their own charge, but failed to cause an explosive reaction within the pressure cooker. Maybe they should have used a bigger charge?
Idiots. Everywhere you look these days, idiots. Juvenile minded fools, trying to act like important people.
not entirely true (Score:2)
Sometimes the bomb squad will use a directed charge designed to shake the crap out of suspicious objects, but without blowing them to smithereens. The idea is to ensure that it can't go off, while still leaving behind evidence that can be analyzed.
'Disrupt' vs 'Detonate' (Score:2)
Ummm, you must not know any EOD types. A disrupter tries to disassemble an explosive device faster than it can detonate. It is typically the first choice for suspected IEDs and has been for decades.
Of course, it will also cheerfully disassemble non-explosive items too.
Re: (Score:3)
Please don't give them any ideas.
Re: (Score:2)
They are doing background checks likely, but not the store.... authorities are checking with retailers after purchase, by delivering orders to provide records of customers' purchases of certain items.
Re: (Score:2)
I know it doesn't matter but I'm wondering why he had a pressure cooker in his car. I don't think that's something I've seen before. I've only carried one once and that was in the trunk so I guess I'm safe.
Re: (Score:2)
You know the first thing that happens when the police have any reason to stop or question you is to check out your identity, background and legal history. If you've got any warrants they want to know or if you're a convicted felon. Even if they had hunted him down to get him to open the car and the pressure cooker (what the lazy asses should have done) he'd still have gone to jail.