Ain't it great we don't need T.I.P.S. to identify those terrorists?
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.
Whoooa! Where are YOU coming from? Guilt? Wholesale roundup?
I was obviously backing you up on your reply to meia. Some people are getting so touchy on here that it's getting difficult to have a rational discourse!
Assume you were to falsely accused me of something bad, let's say beating my wife. I don't beat my wife, never have and never will. So I deny it. Now, using your logic, I am lying because I have so much to lose.
Here's my logic: Anytime you accuse someone of doing something bad, they will deny it. They will deny it because it is untrue, or because they don't want to get caught. The denial in itself gives no clue to the truth. Help me out here.
Can't thing of anything else to do alert.
Try a little harder.
Ain't it great we don't need T.I.P.S. to identify those terrorists?
I can no longer allow newbie infiltration, newbie indoctrination, newbie subversion, and the international newbie conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.
My family moved back to the States when I was 11 a month after Anwar Sadat was shot in Cairo. Once in the States my dad continued his career as a chemical engineer for an American oil company. During our last two years in Cairo 'the company' provided full protection including armed guards for our family so that Muslim extremists would not kill or kidnap us for being Americans. While in Cairo I attended an American school and a Christian church.
I wish I knew how to post the picture.
http://www.winternet.com/~mikelr/flame49.html
For Freedom of Speech...
For Freedom of Conscience...
For Freedom From Religious Intolerance...
For Dr. Yunis Shaikh and other victims of Oppressive BLASPHEMY laws...
Dr. Yunis Shaikh, a medical professional active in the international Rationalist movement has been sentenced to death in Pakistan for violating that nation's "blasphemy" laws. Shaikh, 46, allegedly made "insulting" remarks about Mohammed during a lecture on pre-Islamic customs. He was arrested in October, 2000 and confined under inhumane, barbaric prison conditions. In late August, 2001, Dr. Shaikh was found guilty in a Pakistan court. His case is now under appeal.
Hundreds have been convicted under Pakistan's draconian Blasphemy statutes which mandate death by hanging for those who make unflattering remarks about Islam, the Koran, or the "Prophet Mohammed." Religious extremists in Pakistan (and other countries) use these laws to silence political opposition, and discourage honest inquiry and criticism of their creeds.
LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD IN THE CAMPAIGN TO FREE DR. SHAIKH AND OTHER VICTIMS OF "BLAPSHEMY" PROSECUTION!
Looks like the students were lucky they have to deal with "the law" in Pakistan.
Please provide evidence that they said they didn't pay the toll.
What they did say was that the driver of the second car saw the Police car pull off in pursuit of the first car that went through the toll booth. The driver of the second car asked the toll booth operator if the first driver had paid the toll. The operator said no. So the second driver paid for both cars thinking that the first had pulled through without paying and that was why the police was chasing them.
Best TACT? When was last time you made a 9/11 joke? I'm sorry folks but we're apparently planets apart.
And, frankly, I find it more than a little disturbing.
I know the answer to this one. None.
Sure verifies one of my earlier posts about the crucifixion of eunice.
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