Police nearly shoot girl at Boston today for Electronic Device
 

Police nearly use lethal force on girl who was wearing an electronic device on her shirt at Boston Logan today. This girl is lucky to be alive right now....



Article below:

BOSTON - An MIT student wearing what turned out to be a fake bomb was arrested at gunpoint Friday at Logan International Airport and later claimed it was artwork, officials said.
Star Simpson, 19, had a computer circuit board and wiring in plain view over a black hooded sweatshirt she was wearing, said State Police Maj. Scott Pare, the commanding officer at the airport.
"She said that it was a piece of art and she wanted to stand out on career day," Pare said at a news conference. "She claims that it was just art, and that she was proud of the art and she wanted to display it."
Simpson was charged with disturbing the peace and possessing a hoax device. A not guilty plea was entered for her and she was released on $750 bail.
During the hearing, Simpson smiled as she entered wearing a T-shirt and sandals. After she posted bail, she left in a taxi with a man who identified himself as her boyfriend, but neither would answer more questions from reporters.
Prosecutor Wayne Margolis had requested $5,000 bail, saying Simpson showed a total disregard for the situation she was in — an airport after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
Ross Schreiber, who was appointed to represent Simpson, said she was not a risk to flee, was a good student with no prior convictions and she cooperated with authorities.
He said she had gone to the airport to meet her boyfriend. "She was there for legitimate purposes," Schreiber said.
Simpson was "extremely lucky she followed the instructions or deadly force would have been used," Pare said. "She's lucky to be in a cell as opposed to the morgue."
Simpson is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology sophomore from Hawaii, officials said.
The battery-powered rectangular device had nine flashing lights, and Simpson had Play-Doh in her hands, Pare said.
The phrases "Socket to me" and "Course VI" were written on the back of her sweatshirt, which authorities displayed to the media. Course VI appears to refer to MIT's major of electrical engineering and computer science.
Simpson was a member of MIT's swimming and diving team in 2006, according to the team's Web site, which lists her hometown as Kihei, Hawaii. MIT spokeswoman Patti Richards said aside from confirming she was a student, the school did not have any comment.
She was arrested about 8 a.m. outside Terminal C, home to United Airlines, Jet Blue and other carriers.
A Massachusetts Port Authority staffer manning an information booth in the terminal became suspicious when Simpson — wearing the device — approached to ask about an incoming flight, Pare said. Simpson then walked outside, and the staffer notified a nearby trooper.
The trooper, joined by others with submachine guns, confronted her at a traffic island in front of the terminal.
"She was immediately told to stop, to raise her hands and not to make any movement, so we could observe all her movements to see if she was trying to trip any type of device," Pare said. "Had she not followed the protocol, we might have used deadly force."

Pare said Simpson took a subway to the airport, but he was not sure if she had the device on at that time.
The major praised the booth attendant, but said the incident is a reminder of the terrorism threat confronting the civil aviation system. Two of the four passenger jets hijacked on Sept. 11, 2001, took off from Logan.
The city was the focus of a major security scare Jan. 31 when dozens of battery-powered devices were discovered in various locations. Bomb squads were deployed and some transportation links were closed temporarily. They turned out to be a promotion for the Cartoon Network.
___ Associated Press writers Mark Jewell and Rodrique Ngowi contributed to this report.

Just goes to show that book smarts and a high IQ don't necessarily equate to common sense... I've read elsewhere that there is a thought this might have been a prank or pledge ritual?

Picture of the device in this article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070921/...e_us/fake_bomb

Almost a new 2007 finalist for the Darwin Award. Idiot.

I think she was quoted as saying it was performance art and had been wearing it for a week. It was flashing LEDs, wires and play-doh.

So, despite being a dumb thing to do (wearing this art to the airport), I'm not aware of a threat she made or any statement she made about the "art" being a weapon.

My guess is that someone who intended to use a device in that setting wouldn't "announce" it's presence until it was too late.

As a tangential discussion, how many personal freedoms are you will to give up for safety, and who do you trust to administer that "safety". (Of course this is hypothetical, and I'd ask users to keep our "no politics" forum rules in mind.)

they should have used her for target practice.

She is an idiot. I hope she does jail time. I am sick and tired of these complete morons who think of no one but themselves. Too bad she didnt get shot. Now she will be the next celebrity who gets her own reality show. People need to start taking responsability for their own actions. MIT should expell her from school as she has shown she does not have the ability to work in the real world with other people. God I HATE people like her.

What ever happened to the "Home of the Brave?" I feel this country is just a bunch of pansies these days. We arrest you based on what we think you MIGHT do as opposed to what you did. We taser you if you act like a doofus for a few minutes.

Sorry folks but I, for one, am willing to take a chance on the occasional terrorist act. 911 could have been avoided if the warnings had been heeded. (By both prior administrations)

What if a nuke is detonated in a major city? How are we suppose to live then? Will there be check points every 10 miles? Will we all have to have subcutaneous chips implanted to track our every move? Will this cease to be the "land of the free?"

The answer? A foreign policy that does NOT make us hated by the citizens of other countries. (ie. it's not our freedom they hate). Sure, I'm liberal, but I'm not suicidal. I'm pretty sure my socialist leaning tendency's would not be the end of the world as we know it. But I'm certain riding rough shot over the other nations of this world is not the way.

There has to be a better way.

Sigh, rant over.

Almost her FINAL performance. :eek:

I don't want to get into politics but I see this girl as an indirect victim of those nations we run "roughshod over" rather than the TSA personnel and lawmakers that set up the policy up that caused it. To all appearances she could have been a terrorist. I will quit here because I think the topic wants to get into policy discussion which is disallowed on this particular forum.