Man in Boston Scare Videotaped Police

Washington Times ^ | 2-6-07 | DAVID WEBER

[JZelle]

BOSTON (AP) -- One of the men criminally charged after placing blinking cartoon advertisements around the city videotaped a police bomb squad removing one of the electronic devices, but did not tell the officers the object was harmless.

Surveillance cameras caught 27-year-old Peter Berdovsky videotaping officers removing what they thought was a possible bomb.

[Moosilauke]

Wasn't the going rate $2.6 million for a 30 second commercial on SB? That's for a 30 second exposure when half of the audience is in the bathroom or kitchen. Instead, Turner gets real news coverage for days on end. Let's assume Turner didn't intend for any of this to happen. What is the lesson for the next would-be network with a deadend show that has a 0.001 rating? You could blow all the venture capital on an expensive ad campaign that might or might not get noticed. Or you could create a controversy, apologize, and watch the ratings climb.

[mel]

You are being too complimentary

[rabidralph]

Is your name Graem Bauer?

[APFel]

One question I would like answered, and it has not been addressed in either the news articles or commentary.

The "toy" had been out for... what was it, three weeks?

Were these "toys" still illuminated? If so, where can I buy those batteries? I leave a powered flashlight in the drawer overnight and it's dead the next morning.

Or was it an unlit black box with the wires and batteries exposed?

Had it been an actual bomb, and the BPD had dismissed it as a "hoax"... but the "hoax" exploded and killed men, women and children... would you be here today pointing fingers?

Or would you still think that leaving unattended black boxes with exposed wiring and battery packs around a major metropolitan area (on major though fares and important infrastructure, no less) is a swell advertising plan, and if any police force reacted to them they "over reacted"?

I don't think that you have thought this through, bro.

APf

[Hemingway's Ghost]

So no wonder he didn't figure out that it was HIS device the bomb squad was dealing with.

Please . . . it's not like everybody and his brother are busy fixing devices to the I-93 overpass near Sullivan Square. Vanilla Rasta knew exactly what the cops were there for, and he thought it was so funny/cool he videotaped it so he could be a bigshot in the "video artist" (i.e. bonesmuggling) community.

I hope these two pieces of shi'ite see the inside of Concord MCI for a stretch.

[doc30]

Wasn't the going rate $2.6 million for a 30 second commercial on SB? That's for a 30 second exposure when half of the audience is in the bathroom or kitchen.

I think Superbowl ads are the blingage of the advertising world. The companies that buy them do so because they have big bucks and want to show off, or are companies hoping that people seeing thier ads will think they have big bucks so as to attract investment $$.

[Bommer]

Has anyone been discussing the fact that this little character image that was part of this so called Turner "Cartoon "Network" promotion is making an obscene gesture? i.e. giving the finger? Isn't this a television network designed to appeal to kids?

Why are they using a character giving an obscene gesture?

You would have to watch ATHF to understand that.

The FCC should fine the hell out of these people for corrupting the morals of minors.

Outside of the Science and History channel, you would be arresting every network out there!

It's no wonder this country is going to hell in a hand-basket fast. There's no moral authority. A large portion of this countries citizens morals are in the gutter.

Thank Hollywood for starting that trend. Its been going on for the last 40 years, and is now on the internet near you!

[Don W]

Right up until I read the above headline, I thought this was "much ado about nothing".

If one of the persons DIRECTLY INVOLVED thinks that it's going to create a police reaction, whether he tapes it or not is irrelvant, he is officially a suspect in a case of

"disturbing the peace and public order",

meaning that he, with ALL OTHER PARTIES involved, are due some serious fines AND time in the crowbar hotel.

[Don W]

irrelEvant.

I checked TWICE before posting, too, dagnabbit!

[DBrow]

"Were these "toys" still illuminated?"

They probably were still operating. A single CR2032 coin cell has .022 Ah capacity, and a single D alkaline cell has 15 Ah capacity.

One CR 2032 will keep one LED (with no dropping resistor) lit for about a week continuously, so four D cells should keep 30 LEDs lit for at least three weeks. If the signs had light sensors that shut them off in the daytime even longer. (.022/15)/30=20

I have an LED flashlight that has three LEDs and three aaa batteries- the battery life given in the product literature is 200 hours or about 8 days continuous. An incandescent of similar size, like a Mini Mag, would go flat in a few hours of burn.

The LED signs were not boxes, they were open circuit cards with all the components visible. You can even see resistors.

[bondjamesbond]

Boston ought to hold a raffle, a buck a chance, to see who gets to shave this guy's head once he's arrested. They would make Millions!

[sbMKE]

I have a videotape somewhere in the house from after 9/11. My wife was coming to pick me up from work and noticed that a rather large crate of twine was in a busy intersection - presumably fallen from a truck. She called the police from my office to report the obstruction and before you knew it half of downtown Milwaukee was cordoned off, police and news choppers were circling and a bomb squad was dispatched from Madison. All to respond to a large grate of twine and/or "portruding wires."

When we finally were able to get home, we received several calls from police investigating the bomb/hoax/box. Frightening to think we might have been prosecuted due to the gross overreaction of the police to a simple road obstruction.

This is CYA by the police all the way.

[American_Centurion]

police officers had to go stand in traffic to shut down roadways. That is not without it's risks.

Come on! Pile on more BS please! If Police officers NEVER, EVER, stood in traffic, I could see your point. They do it all the time... it's their job.

[DBrow]

"Vanilla Rasta knew exactly what the cops were there for,"

I can't know what he was thinking and I don't believe you can either.

If I placed something I thought was cool advertising somewhere, then three weeks later, there is some sort of hubbub about a bomb, why would I assume the flap was about my blinking sign?

If Vanilla Rasta (like that I do) had intentionally planted something that a rational person would see as a dangerous device (which would meet the definition of hoax) then maybe he would have thought, Oh hey, I think the bomb squad has been fooled by my "device".

Let's say you leave an LED lightstick (like a Streetlight) under a bench when you are at an outdoor, nighttime event, then later you hear that the park is cordoned off and is being evacuated. You'd think, it MUST be my lightstick, right? In case you have never seen one here's a link:

http://www.neonhusky.com/JShop/product.php/188/35/

[BearCub]

[BearCub]

[APFel]

Very well. I like your technical information a great deal, and it answers several questions. But it looks as though you address the hypothetical as well, so lets get a little more hypothetical.

What percentage of Boston dwellers would recognize a resistor? What percentage of them could recognize a resisitor from a distance? And those who COULD recognize a resistor and perhaps mistake these "lite brites" as an explosive device, could assume a resistor might be a part of a trigger circuit or something else? For that matter, would Joe Average Bostonian know the function of ANY circuit board upon distant examination, whether it is to power a LED array, play Pac Man or functions as a television chassis?

What are the odds of one of these devices failing, especially since as you said the electronics were exposed? Would the weather cause one or more of these devices to stop glowing? What are the odds of one of these devices failing due to poor craftsmanship?

And if ONE of these failed devices, affixed to the pillar of an overpass or something else that one might deem as important infrastructure, is mistaken for an IED or whatever... Boom, We have what happened in Boston.

I'm seriously curious about this. So far, the BPD have been made out to look like idiots on the Internet and in the MSM, but I believe that they behaved appropriately given the circumstance.

APf

[Sparky1776]

"I hope these two pieces of shi'ite see the inside of Concord MCI for a stretch."

Amen.

[3niner]

The little self-absorbed bastard had a duty to tell the police that it was not bomb.

That was the first thing I thought, too. Then I remembered a time when I observed a police officer overreacting to something, because he had failed to be observant. I tried to volunteer information about what he had missed, and was threatened with arrest for my trouble.

Fortunately, when he became loud and aggressive, his superior heard and came over. I was able to provide the information to her, while he continued to threaten me. She got him out of the area, and defused the situation.

I was very shaken, since I had very nearly gotten arrested for trying to be a good citizen.

There are enough bad cops around to make even honest citizens want to avoid them whenever possible.

[flada]

A breadboard with visible LED's, wires, batteries, and resistors doesn't look like anything but a breadboard with LED's, wires, and batteries. Anyone on the bombsquad who didn't know instantly that these things were harmless should be looking for a new job. I suppose a detonator could be disguised to look like this, but to do anything it would still have to be connected to something explosive--which these weren't.