Replies

Here's the initial report of the terror threat to the Bridgport area:

Security increased as terror threat targets I-95

BRIDGEPORT -- A terror threat targets Connecticut's busiest stretch of highway, the Interstate-95 corridor in Bridgeport. State police began stepping up security in the area Thursday.

The response is a coordinated effort between local and state police, the Coast Guard, and Homeland Security.

People taking the Port Jefferson ferry to Long Island underwent police checks of vehicles at the docks today.

One of the more visible signs of the increased security measures put into place after authorities received information that Bridgeport could be targeted.

"It's nerve-wracking .. .you see police, and all that's going on, you often wonder," said Long Island resident Timothy Smith.

"What we've done now because of the alerts we've increased police to 24 hours, seven days a week," says Joseph Savino the Harbormaster. "Matter of fact, we just got back to the dock. We were out on patrol."

The alert appears to involve the stretch of I-95 that skirts the city, an area that includes the ferry terminal. The I-95 bridge over the harbor and the Metro North tracks that run parallel to the highway.

"It began with homeland security in Washington obtaining intelligence information and passing it to Connecticut," says State Police spokesman Sgt. Paul Vance. "In this day and age, all intelligence is taken seriously and passed on to law enforcement agencies that it might affect."

State police stress that the intelligence in this situation is both non-specific and unsubstantiated, but is taken very seriously -- hence the increased security.

Measures people seem willing to put up with for the peace of mind it affords them.

"Better the security here than to have a problem when we're out in the middle of Long Island sound on a boat," says Robert Mancuso.

Channel 3 news

Then, the next day,AFTER the accident occurred, it was reported that the terror advisory was a hoax.