Triborough Bridge Shut Down: New York City Bomb Squad Investigates Abandoned U-Haul Truck On RFK

NEW YORK — Police say a U-Haul truck that caused a bomb scare after it was ditched near a toll booth at New York City's Robert F. Kennedy Bridge is not terrorism related.

Police say a bridge authority officer believed he smelled gasoline coming from the truck and saw a man flee the vehicle late Wednesday night.

The NYPD bomb squad and other emergency officials rushed to the scene, but nothing dangerous was found inside the vehicle.

The driver was waved over by Port Authority officials who do routine searches of trucks on city bridges, and he may have fled because the truck was stolen.

Police say it was traced to a U-Haul business in the Bronx.

Comments

[jl4141]

02:06 PM on 05/06/2010

Look, the driver had just finished off a bran muffin and a large coffee, and he was stuck in traffic. You'd have pulled over toot sweet too!

[Luke Gublo]

08:35 AM on 05/06/2010

For one, Robert Moses built the TRIBOROUGH Bridge, not the RFK Bridge.

[jl4141]

02:07 PM on 05/06/2010

You could rename it the Kermit the Frog bridge, and Moses would still have built it.

[Sue-in-Jersey]

08:27 AM on 05/06/2010

If the driver actually RAN from the vehicle and didn't seek help from authorities nor from motorists, THAT is suspicious. Will be interesting to find out the driver's side of the story.

[Craig Kanalley]

09:09 AM on 05/06/2010

Agreed. Something doesn't add up here.

[newtom]

10:35 AM on 05/06/2010

Maybe he had been drinking...

[JBS]

12:44 PM on 05/06/2010

Then the news reports should have said "staggered away" or "reeled away".

I'm holding out for "beat feet!"

SWAG... if you're going to drive a stolen truck across a NYC toll bridge, make sure you have exact change BEFORE you see the toll booth.

[MIKEinNYC]

07:53 AM on 05/06/2010

I will never refer to the Triborough Bridge as the "rfk". Nor will most New Yorkers.

The renaming of that bridge is a joke, a sham. If the Kennedys so badly needed that a bridge be named after them should have changed their name to "Triborough".

[HoosierInMaryland]

07:00 PM on 05/06/2010

And Ray-Gun should have changed his name to Washington National Airport.

[bulfinch]

06:58 AM on 05/06/2010

If you have ever rented a U-Haul you know why he fled.

[benblack75]

10:13 AM on 05/06/2010

Bingo. I rented one from Brooklyn once that caught on fire and needed to be towed to my destination.

[JBS]

02:27 PM on 05/06/2010

In this case it turns out to be "If you have ever STOLEN a U-Haul you know why he fled."

[InsideBrooklyn]

05:06 AM on 05/06/2010

Far as I'm concerned divide up all the major roads, bridges

[thesquanderer]

07:40 AM on 05/06/2010

Yes, we can't have bridges that are too big to fail. Break 'em up.

[HoosierInMaryland]

04:35 AM on 05/06/2010

So, let's see. You're driving a vehicle that stalls on a bridge near a toll booth.

You smell gas, get out of said vehicle and get away from the vehicle.

Smart moves so far, and very unsuspicious.

But you run, not to get assistance from a passing motorist, or from someone at the toll facility, but just disappear.

So does everyone posting here REALLY wonder why the police reacted the way they did?

[JBS]

01:00 PM on 05/06/2010

I KNOW why the police reacted the way they did. That's their job.

I'm curious what the driver was doing. Maybe they do it different in NYC, but around here if you break down and block traffic the cops usually show up sooner or later to see what's going on.

Could be the driver had reasons he didn't want to talk to the cops unrelated to "terrorism".

Maybe as simple as some guy "borrowed" the truck without getting permission, and thought the cops might not be too understanding of such an informal relationship with ownership of the vehicle.

[ganugo]

04:00 AM on 05/06/2010

It's called the RFK Bridge now.

[FHTB]

05:17 AM on 05/06/2010

Yes, come on, Huffpo, let's try to stay current...

As always, the media are becoming obsessive over this latest terrorist drama...as we all know, the likelihood of dying at the hand of a terrorist is about on par with getting struck by lightning...not gonna happen too often...but in a a desperate to fill up the 24-hour news cycle with filler, the media have gone apes--t about all this. And can we STOP having them say how amateurish this was, and if he had made the bomb like this it would have worked!

[dct1999]

05:34 AM on 05/06/2010

Not by real NYers; it will always be the TriBoro to us.

[ganugo]

06:22 AM on 05/06/2010

True and get this I still call it the TriBoro. :)

And good morning to you.

[Matt Corbin]

03:36 AM on 05/06/2010

Apparently i'm the only person on the internet who's never had a problem out of any uhaul i've ever rented.... lucky me.

[Ralph Boyd]

03:53 AM on 05/06/2010

The large trucks are the ones that tend to be in the worst shape.

[manndan]

10:02 AM on 05/06/2010

That certainly has been my experience. If you are making a one-way trip you can count on getting the worst trip on the lot. That was my experience.

[josefhiggins]

03:33 AM on 05/06/2010

Can't keep treating every "stalled" vehicle as "suspicious", especially a UHaul!
The average UHaul can't run 5 miles without it breaking down. I know as I moved
last year and I went though 3 UHaul trucks in a single day.

[Ralph Boyd]

03:51 AM on 05/06/2010

Amen. UHauls dangerous junk.

I was on a tall bridge when the brakes went out on a UHaul. Downshifting only does so much, we were doing better than 60 mph in first gear by the time we hit the bottom of the bridge.

[HoosierInMaryland]

04:27 AM on 05/06/2010

Automatic or stick - cause if it was a stick, the engine blew before you hit 60.

[JBS]

01:11 PM on 05/06/2010

It's not just a "stalled vehicle" ... it's an abandoned "stalled vehicle" in a high profile area within a week of a failed attack.

Given the circumstances, I think the official response was within reason. Maybe the media are giving it more coverage than is warranted, but again it is notable in relationship to the previous incident ... a second scare, if not an actual attack of any kind.

I'm slightly curious why the driver decided not to stick around, but lean towards the idea of the driver not having appropriate "paperwork" for the truck & feeling disinclined to discuss that with the police.

[dtmfman]

03:20 AM on 05/06/2010

Breaking News:....
Man drives truck onto bridge...truck breaks down..smell of gas could be broken fuel pump or gas line leak....man is high...been drinking...or has no drivers license....man has an "oh 5h!t moment"....man runs like he.ll before the police get there....bomb squad is called...hundreds of thousands spent in the operation of determining if this is an act of terrorism....NYPD discovers empty truck....hundreds of emergency responders scratch their heads in unison. Even more motorists are flippin each other off while yelling obscenities at each other....

Man who left truck arrives home and gets stoned...thinks he's home free....within the next 24 hrs...police kick in door and take man into custody.... giuliani and bloomberg all over MSM praising the work of the emergency responders (which by the way THEY SHOULD)

Story....sometime tomorrow...

[think global act local]

06:05 AM on 05/06/2010

I am convinced you are right. We will see tomorrow...

[newtom]

10:42 AM on 05/06/2010

Someone has to pay for that hole the police cut in the side of the truck! lol

[KIVPossum]

02:49 AM on 05/06/2010

Why be surprised about an abandoned UHaul? They only run 50 miles between breakdowns.

[satotravel]

02:33 AM on 05/06/2010

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[satotravel]

02:31 AM on 05/06/2010

Lincoln Property Company would like to thank everyone for your efforts. .... New York bridge closed after U-Haul truck abandoned on itCNN ... Abandoned truck smelling of gas forces shutdown of New York bridgeXinhua .... No bomb was found in a truck abandoned on New York City's Triborough Bridge
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[realpolitic]

02:12 AM on 05/06/2010

Man, it is not a smart idea these days to leave an abandoned car or truck anywhere. These police incidents must cost citizens millions of dollars in time and inconvenience. Excellent job by authorities, though!