Photos: Times Square Evacuated for Suspicious Package

[UPDATE BELOW] After a suspicious package shut down a block of Eighth Avenue by 44th Street earlier today, another suspicious package has prompted an evacuation of Times Square (remember the last evacuation?). We turn once again to the Office of Emergency Management Twitter page, which states: "Due to police activity in the vicinity of 46th Street and Broadway(MN) expect street closures in the Times Square area." Honestly this is getting kind of repetitive, but it's worth noting if only for this great shot of an empty Times Square. (Crank up the Kid A and enjoy.) We'll update when we've got more details or heroes.

UPDATE 2:10 p.m.: An official close to the investigation tells NBC that the package "is a lunch cooler with a handle. Someone notified police about the package so they are responding as a precautionary measure. Police say the package was near the Marriott Marquis Hotel on Broadway." The NYPD gets 100 reports of suspicious packages every day.

UPDATE 2:22 p.m.: According to the Office of Emergency Management, "All police activity at 46th Street and Broadway in Manhattan has concluded. All streets in Times Square are now open." See y'all at the next suspicious package!

UPDATE 3:30 p.m.: The cooler had Poland Spring water bottles and a bag next to it had books inside it. But WHAT KIND OF BOOKS?! All we know is that NYPD spokesman Paul Browne told CBS 2: The NYPD received nearly 150 reports of suspicious packages yesterday, which is dramatically higher than the average of amount of reports for a typical day. In fact, the number of suspicious package reports has been up all week following Saturday's attempted car bombing. Because everybody wants to be the hero.

UPDATE 4:25 p.m.: A source familiar with the investigation tells Newsday that the bag was a gift bag from "The Oprah Winfrey Show." Winfrey, who will probably have her citizenship revoked any second, was filming her show at Radio City Music Hall today (she shaved Dr. Phil's beard!) and is no doubt boarding a flight to Dubai at this very moment. "This is something that happens fairly regularly," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly tells the AP. "When you have a major event, the reports of suspicious packages will go up. I think, to a certain extent, people are becoming more suspicious, more vigilant and that results in more calls."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in News on May 7, 2010 4:26 PM

Comments [rss]

dwayno

ugh, when are tourist assholes going to realize how sensitive things are here right now and not leave their shit all over the place?? god damn it

zincink

My question is.. What kind of person leaves WATER and BOOKS in a cooler...?!

inoyourider

Better to be safe than sorry.

gattopardo

Does this mean we have to endure a round of unfunny "Oprah, Al Qaida, Al Qaida, Oprah" Letterman jokes?

diablofreak

they need to go after the ignorant prick that left the box here, as well as the one that left the uhaul truck on the triboro bridge.

the manpower and time wasted on these efforts (luckily it's not a bomb, i know, but still) is too much to ignore. we can't let these irresponsible clowns off.

Stanhope Charming

Seriously? In your New York would forgetfulness be a felony or a misdemeanor? Although, it would apply only to the person who left their cooler in the pedestrian plaza - not so much the U-Haul driver (Now, where did I leave that U-Haul again?).

horseplay

Yeah! I'm just glad no tourists were hurt. This city would sink without tourists and the world would stop turning. I sure hope it doesn't happen, but if one of these things ever blew up, I hope Ny'ers are kind enough to jump in front of the tourists to shield them from the blast

Wza

Anyone get a close enough pic of Tom Cruise running through an empty Times Square?

ides_of_march

That was quick. I don't even think Bloomberg got a chance to blame it somebody opposed to Obamacare.

calmdahn

As a person who has never once littered or left my lunchbox behind where it shouldn't be, I'd just like to say that yes, I'm fine with making it a felony to leave suspicious looking packages lying around. Then again i would be happy to see cigarette smoking made a felony, so I might be the wrong person to ask.

Jen Chung

The last pictures are like Hurt Locker-lite.

TrippinJoJo

are these drills?

ysny

live from new york. still empty.

http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/?cam=lennon_hd

Christine Quinn's SIush Fund

this isnt fair. they close times square for this but leave it open when pigeons can easily be killed from being stepped on by tourists.

Thespis

I would worry about the pigeons roasting on the kabob carts, not the ones getting accidentally stepped on.

I mean, come on...that ain't chicken.

horseplay

Oh come on NY'ers lets not be selfish. We're not important, tourists lives are at stake here. If a bomb goes off and there's alot of deaths (God forbid), hopefully none of them are tourists, we sooo desperately need them in our city

bobchadwick

Any inconveniences caused by this abandoned cooler are worth it, just for those photos. Pretty cool.

horseplay

This isn't funny you know. A "tourist" could have sprained their ankle running from that cooler

Christine Quinn's SIush Fund

that's unfair to the animals would otherwise live in times square if not for the humans that hae overtaken it over the last yaer or so.

gattopardo

The people at the top of photo 4: officially idiots.

TheKlaus

I don't know. The "Getting repetitive" remark kind of rubbed me the wrong way. There's a tone in that remark that makes me think the JDS thinks police are wasting everyone's time by taking extreme measures in a suspicious package scenario. Maybe it's nothing. Maybe it's a bomb. Maybe this incident will end up one big police drill. But maybe next time it'll save scads of lives?

Maybe I am just misinterpreting the tone of the remark.

I still like JDS.

Rocknrope

It would be better if walking corpses started pouring out of the Marriot.

ohhleary

Terror (n.): intense, sharp, overmastering fear.

In the past week, we have been gripped in "intense, sharp, overmastering fear" over every single slightly suspicious thing in this city: an abandoned truck, a gym bag, an empty shopping bag, a tourist's cooler...

In other words, the terrorists have won.

jaycjay

It's also scary when people speak in foreign languages:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/05/police_portsmou.html

evbo

Wow, that looks all "I Am Legend." Where's the herd of wild deer?

Guest

haven't seen "i am legend" yet but if you've enjoyed it, you will enjoy "28 days later" if you haven't seen it already.

Thespis

Hey, did the police get to do that "line of police cars" thing that they practice all the time? You know, the one where they basically interrupt all foot and car traffic at rush hour to have fifty cops that could otherwise be enforcing the law drive in a big line to Times Square?

Because...hey, that's gotta be useful for something!

Guest

"we are the world, we are the police. we are the ones who make a brighter day..."

Randy

At least if there are potential terrorists watching and testing how we handle situations such as this, they'll know that we're not letting anything, no matter how small, go by without responding.

jt10000

"[W]e're not letting anything, no matter how small, go by without responding"?

That's part of the problem - terrorists can now provoke significant responses w/o even making bombs.

dwayno

agreed. they're loving this shit over there. probably having a good laugh about us living in fear, closing down streets for hours at a time. they said they would cripple our economy and that' exactly what they're doing.

TimSPC

We can't go on together... with a suspicious package.

NannyState

Homeland Security now says the situation is "clear and closed".

Gothampc

"Homeland Security now says the situation is "clear and closed".

i.e. Janet Napolitano has reached her bomb-proof bunker.

NannyState

"White cooler left in front of the Marriott Marquis"

NannyState

Never mind, they were referring to an incident a few hours ago...

horseplay

Oh, the one where your sat on her ankles?

senhorjose

(Crank up the Kid A and enjoy.)

"We're not scaremongering./ This is really happening."

RoboticInsides

That looks surreal. I wish it were always this empty.

Guest

28 days later

aschaf

Welcome to our new reality. You may think it's getting repetitive, but I guess your mind will change if stuff starts blowing up.

longacre

The Poland Spring Attack of 5/7: Never Forget

jt10000

But the thing is, stuff won't start blowing up very often. There will be many more false responses than anything actually happening. Thousands or tens of thousands more.

So the first question is, is the time (and thus money) spent on police response plus wasted time for other people worth it, or would those resources be better spent on other activities (even security-related activities, such as investigation of criminals).

And the second question is, are actual terrorists now going to realize how well they can disrupt NYC w/o actually building bombs? And actually start setting up false boxes and such? That has much lower personal risk.

And lastly, are we then going to start making littering a felony? THe same way that guy who went into a secure area of an airport w/o hurting anyone, and then gets criminal charges thrown at him. Leave a box or bag somewhere and you're a felon. Is that how we want to live? Seems to me if we head in that direction, the terrorists have won. Big time.

EastRiver

But the thing is, stuff won't start blowing up very often.

So who decides when to intervene and when to let it ride and what standard do they use? That's a serious question, not meant to be snarky. And exactly how much is the government going to be on the hook when they fail to respond?