A little something for that scratchy throat there, Mr. B?
[sub]Bolding mine[/sub].
I know you’d still like to paint the entire collected Pennsylvania Law Enforcement establishment as incompetent boobs who intentionally let Wells die because they thought it’d make great footage for the cameramen from COPS, or perhaps Jackass, but the consensus is they did everything they could have done, and everything they should have done.
The collar had a live bomb, and four seperate locks. The fault here is NOT with the PD, the FBI or the bomb squad- the fault lies firmly, entirely, and wholly on the shoulders of the maniac who strapped an explosive charge to the man.
To others still reading- 'couple of points I noted in the news: Wells supposedly requested $250K, which changes the speculation on the possible take. Wells was also apparently instructed to drive to several seperate locations to find the keys with which to disarm the bomb.
Why, I couldn’t say- perhaps the bomber would have them staked out so he could see if the victim were being followed? Still doesn’t answer the question of how the money was supposed to make it back to the bomber…
Doc, as usual, a most balanced and respectful post to my rabble-rousing phlegm. It’s just my opinion, but 26 minutes is too long to take before deciding the thing’s a bomb, regardless of how difficult the thing might be to defuse. I would hope my cries of “this thing’s a fuckin’ bomb!” might get them to call the bomb squad. Then again, I’d hate to disturb their Canasta game or whatever was more important…
26 minutes. Look at the footage, read the reports. They cuffed the poor bastard, then realized he in fact had a necklace bomb and beat feet back to a safe area. What did they do in that 26 minutes that they couldn’t have done in say, two?
And I know it’s convenient to quote the FBI and the police chief, but truly, what alternative do they have? “Yep, it was a debacle all the way around,” Zaleski said, in a rare moment of clarity.
For what it’s worth, it seems to me that Mr. B might have a point here.
For one thing, innocent people are regularly subject to arrest and other inconvenience by law enforcement on the ground that all statements about bombs must be taken seriously. If that’s the policy of law enforcement in general, then why wasn’t the bomb squad called immediately?
Second, the guy did have a noticeable bulge under his shirt which would have seemed to back up his claim.
I’d be curious to know when the police started keeping their distance from the guy and when they first called the bomb squad.
Well, I’ve decided that 26 minutes is too long for you to have responded to the last comment. This is conclusive proof that you are are a complete idiot. Just using your own “logic”.
Get some poor pizza delivery guy to show up at some random, remote location (check.)
Place bomb on poor guy and give him instructions (check.)
Poor guy’s mission is to rob bank (check) and drop money off at specific location (this is where the pizza guy failed.) I’ll bet his further instructions were to continue on to place where bomb is deactivated.
Unfortunately for poor guy, the real plan only involves his death. The robber just waits near the drop-off point to see if police are in pursuit, goes to collect money if the coast is clear, and then robber heads for the hills.
Poor guy (only one who sees actual robber) dies. No matter what happens.
In this case, the robber is only out one bomb. He’ll try this again, and instruct the next poor guy to avoid the police.
If I knew this, as the robber’s victim, my best option would be to attempt bomb removal in the immediate presence of the robber. I’d find out real quick whether or not the bomb was triggered to go off with tampering.