Posted on 09/19/2002 11:52:38 AM PDT by meia
Earlier reports from authorities said that Kambiz Butt ran the tollbooth without paying.
Thursday, September 19, 2002
By BRIGID O'MALLEY, bmomalley@naplesnews.com
The Collier County Sheriff's Office has voided the ticket given to the driver of one of the cars stopped on Alligator Alley last week during a terrorism scare, saying the tollkeeper Wednesday recalled taking the $1.50 from the man.
"She was very nervous at the time," said Collier Sheriff Don Hunter.
He said the tollbooth attendant, who had earlier given a sworn statement that the driver hadn't paid, had spotted the tag on the front of the car which had been given as part of a description to all tollkeepers in the state as a car that needed to be stopped by authorities.
"She became flustered and didn't recall," Hunter said. He said it was a Car Max tag on the front of the car that caught her attention.
Earlier reports from authorities said that Kambiz Butt, 25, the driver of one of the two cars stopped on the Alley on Friday to be checked out for a possible terrorism-related incident, ran the tollbooth without paying.
Alligator Alley was shut down in both directions for 17 hours, and the men, who were headed to Larkin Hospital in South Miami to start work as medical students, were detained between 11:45 p.m. Thursday and 6 p.m. Friday while they were questioned by local, state and federal authorities.
Eunice Stone reported to police that they'd been in a Shoney's restaurant in Calhoun, Ga., on Thursday morning and were laughing about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and saying that another, even worse, attack was set for Sept. 13, the day they were stopped at Mile Marker No. 92 on the interstate. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation issued the alert.
All three men, Ayman Gheith, 27, Omar Choudhary, 23, and Butt, who are of Middle Eastern descent, have denied talking about Sept. 11 or any attacks on Miami. They've appeared on news shows around the nation since the stop.
But a Collier deputy, Darrel Kehne, on special patrol, looking for the cars and their occupants, spotted the two cars and stopped them. A Collier sheriff's bomb detection dog alerted on the rear of both cars and that brought dozens of officers to the Alley.
Authorities after the daylong investigation, which included a search by a bomb-detecting robot, helicopters bearing special equipment and a thorough scouring of the cars, determined the incident was a hoax. The searches turned up no signs of explosives or bomb-making material.
Deputies, after interviewing the tollkeeper after the stop, wrote a ticket — the fine is $100 plus $26 in court costs — to Butt.
But the videotape at the tollbooth on Interstate 75 also shows a transaction between Butt and the tollbooth attendant, Hunter said. The ticket should be officially voided today, Hunter said.
Hunter said investigators showed the tollkeeper, who'd already given a sworn statement saying Butt's car had run the tollbooth, the video which logs the transaction Wednesday.
"He reached his hand out. She reached her hand out," Hunter said. "There appears to have been a transaction. Then she excitedly waves her hand toward the east. We believe she was trying to flag us down."
Butt contended that he paid the toll, Hunter said.
"It would not be fair not to check it out," he said.
He said the second car did stop and ask if Butt had paid the toll.
Hunter described the toll taker as "nervous" at the time.
"She said she wasn't scared," he said.
David Kubiliun, one of the attorneys representing the men, said they are pleased the ticket was voided.
"My understanding is that it was voided because videotape showed Mr. Butt did pay the toll," Kubiliun said. "He's very pleased. We're all gratified."
Hunter speculated the attorneys will try to take on other aspects of the stop.
"I'm sure their attorneys will say, 'If this was wrong, what else was wrong?' " Hunter said. "But I'm firm on the rest of it."
He said investigators are still running down other parts of the probe, which he didn't disclose.
"We haven't reached any dead ends," Hunter said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
I believe it has been repeatedly stated here that the nitrates in fertilizer would set a bomb sniffing dog on alert.Yes, it has been said but only by the islamo apologists in the crowd. This is another cop-out for them. Why exactly would 3 med students be hauling fertilizer around in their cars? Maybe they pay their way through college by farming??? Not to mention that this claim is pure supposition by those making it. They read somewhere that bombs can be made from fertilizer, dogs reated tot he cars of 3 middle eastern men, they are islamo-apologists, so they're natural reaction is that they must have had fertilzer in their cars! Give me a break!
Pit is trained to detect gunpowder, TNT and plastic bombs, among other explosives, Hunter said.So I guess that both the dog and the cops are racists /sarcasm off
He (Hunter) said he’s convinced the dog detected a trace of explosives.
I am an American Citizen but was not born in the United States. Should I be deported if I speed through a tollbooth, talk too loud in a Shoney's or buy fertilizer for my lawn?
Probably so, but then again being a jerk isn't an exileable offense. :) But keep posting stuff like this and I'm sure the moderators will find a better excuse to show you the door.
I have total sympathy for you. One of my favorite aunts was Lebanese as was my best friend of almost thirty years until he died tragically in an auto accident. We would have given our lives for one another. I do not come at this from some sort of "racist" position.
I imagine and I regret that many like yourself will/should(?) experience some irritation during the WAR.
Mine was a guess at the possiblity a dog could have false positives based on what was read here. Are dogs really never wrong? I seem to remember a few articles dealing with unreliable dogs in drug busts. Again I see nothing wrong with the actions taken though I think these guys are turning out to be idiots lying to cover their asses than would be terrorists.
But feel free to continue acting like a complete jackass.
-PJ
For what exactly at this point would you revoke citizenship.....being insensitive a-holes? I'm not trying to pick a fight but that's a bit much isn't it.
You do understand that I could deny talking about something (cars, for instance) at lunch and still have spent my entire lunch talking about something else(boneheaded Freppers, for instance). You can handle that, right?
However, from looking at the men, the types of cars they drive, their age and other common sense, it is unlikely they are big into horticulture or lawn maintenance. I doubt they carry much fertilizer in their cars.I agree and to clarify the point: The types of fertilzers that you can buy at your local Home Depot would NOT be detected as "bomb" making materials and it is pretty clear that these 3 med students are not also commercial farmers...
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