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Boston Police Arrest Performance Artist For 'Hoax Device' Placed At Boston Marathon Finish Line
By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 16, 2014
Modified Apr 16, 2014
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By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 16, 2014
Modified Apr 16, 2014
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Yesterday, on the one-year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings, Boston authorities noticed a man running towards the finish line. The man was screaming, and, as officers approached him, they saw he was "wearing all black, no shoes, and a veil and hat covering his face," which was covered in yellow and blue paint. Also, he was wearing a backpack—with a rice cooker inside.
The police separated the man, Kevin Edson, from the backpack and detonated the bag. While the contents were not explosive, Edson was arrested and charged with threatening battery, possession of a hoax explosive device, threats to commit a crime, disturbing the peace, disturbing a public assembly, and disorderly conduct.
The explosives used in last year's fatal bombing were pressure cookers. It turns out that Edson, 25, is a performance artist. On a YouTube video, he says, "I’m a fashion designer, an entrepreneur, a performance artist, a mental patient, a blogger bloggerist, a jailbird, a college dropout, and a drag queen.“Boston, yeaaaah, dude." Daily Intel notes, "He also says he was diagnosed as bipolar."
A second backpack left near the finish line was detonated; it turns out it belonged to the NECN media group. NECN's general manager said, "One of the two bags that police detonated last night belonged to a NECN news crew. The crew had put down their bag - which contained cables - while on the scene covering last night's developments. They were not permitted to retrieve the bag when the area was quickly evacuated. The NECN crew cooperated while asking officers several times if they could get their bag back. Because of the ongoing investigation, police denied access. Once the scene was cleared, the crew picked up the remains of the bag."
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Kevyn Edson
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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