Suspicious package shuts down part of High Street
February 20, 2009
A suspicious package was reported Thursday afternoon at the U.S. Post Office on the corner of High Street and Hagerman Court.
Lexington Police reported to the scene just after 3 p.m. and blocked off High Street from Rose Street to Martin Luther King Boulevard. Lexington Police’s Hazardous Devices Unit safely seized the package, a laptop computer bag, and found only a laptop inside. Sgt. Jack Roberts said standard procedure was followed.
The call was made at 2:51 p.m., Roberts said. Police arrived at the scene at approximately 3:05 p.m. and called in the Hazardous Devices Unit to inspect the bag.
The call to the post office’s supervisor came from a customer who noticed strange activity from an unidentified woman in line.
According to the customer, the woman carried a red laptop bag and was repeatedly asking questions concerning what she should do with the bag, said Bart Dickinson, a window clerk at the post office.
“The woman was disgruntled, unhappy about something,†Dickinson said.
Her questions going unanswered, the woman began muttering under her breath. The frustrated woman then set her bag on top of a trashcan and left the post office.
After the call was made, the post office’s station manager evacuated the building before the police arrived on the scene.
The Hazardous Devices Unit used a robot to extract the bag from the building. At 4:56 p.m., the robot shot a jet of water at the laptop bag to determine the possible danger. Officials then approached and extracted the destroyed computer just before 5 p.m.
— Laura Clark