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Is the Port Authority Being Bottle-Taunted?
By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 7, 2008
Modified Oct 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 7, 2008
Modified Oct 7, 2008
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Last Friday afternoon-into-evening, commuters leaving NYC through the Lincoln Tunnel were treated to hours of delays, because a suspicious package was left on I-495 West. It turned out to be two bottles filled with an ultimately harmless liquid, but the damage was done: Traffic was diverted to local roads in NJ, commuter bus passengers were hating their devotion to mass transit, and there were still hours of residual delays.
The Post dubs the perp, "Lincoln Lunatic." Now WABC 7 wonders if someone is trying to test the Lincoln Tunnel and the Port Authority police, noting that this is just the latest bottle stunt: "The first one occurring four weeks ago, when someone placed '3 plastic heart shaped bottles' of an unknown liquid on the New Jersey side of the Lincoln Tunnel. One bottle had a 'gray wire inside' and a message, 'don't look at me.' And then again last Wednesday, two 'red sealed bottles were glued' near a lamp post."
Which also gives Paul Nunziato, of the Port Authority police union, a chance to say, "I would say they're studying what's going on at the tunnel. Because they've been able to do it, 7 bottles placed on one of the busiest roadways in the world and no one sees them no one caught an eye on them, including the cameras." The union says patrols have been scaled back at the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels.
Tagged
delays
holland tunnel
lincoln tunnel
port authority
port authority police
suspicious package
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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