We just got an SMS that traffic (including Muni) is blocked on Potrero between 20th and 22nd, and that everyone is advised to avoid the area. What's going on? Anyone nearby? We can't find anything in the news about it.
UPDATE! Readers report lots of helicopters, and the evacuation of the hospital due to a suspicious device. What do you suppose the device is? A sandwich, or a speak-n-spell, or CAT scanner?
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i was sfalert-ed as well. i'm hearing lots of copters here at 24th and treat, so coverage should be up shortly.
From cbs5.com:
San Francisco General Hospital is being evacuated at this hour due to a suspicious device. Police have blocked the entrance and sidewalk along Potrero Avenue.
ten bucks it's a nurse's backpack in the break room.
either that or a brown person came in carrying something - anything - and freaked out some uptight idiot who called 911 and embellished with lots of "he was talking in arabic and i heard the word 'jihad.'"
that's the part of the block the mhrf/sfbhcsfgen is on/nextdoor to the big house. it's my day off. i hope they're all okay...
"This guy", you are a douchebag.
....no one is answering any of the nursing station numbers.
Please remember not to feed the trolls. We're not above disemvowelling comments.
i'm a douche bag? why? because i'm willing to point out what a bunch of idiots a lot of people are? like the boston police department or the lady that was scared of muslims talking to each other on an airplane and caused an emergency landing? or the people that got a bunch of imams arrested for the crime of praying at the designated time?
are you one of those idiots, is that why it touches a nerve?
Wow. Are we in Boston all of a sudden? (mean joke).
The Helicopters aren't hovering so close anymore, I heard on an audio report on kcbs.com that this is the second bomb threat they've had in a few weeks. Probably a disgruntled employee.
So much paranoia these days.
thank you mattymat. and whoa there. i can assure you that it is not a disgruntled employee.
From Caltrans:
5:11 PM 06/06/07 Conditions
POTRERO AVE between 19TH ST and 24TH ST Closed: DUE TO POLICE ACTIVITY ...
A detailed audiocast from KCBS is here:
podcast.kcbs.com/kcbs/509500.mp3
From ABC7:
``The package was found in a hospital parking lot near the mental health building.``
xcpt mslms kll ppl. Lts f thm. It s why thy fl thy wr pt n ths rth. SF Gnrl hs vry rght t b crfl f thy sw thrt.
That's the first time I've ever had to do that.
Great, more Mooninites...
What the hell kind of comment is that? "Your day will come"? Is that meant as a threat?
And who said this had anything to do with anybody, muslim or otherwise? Right now all we got is a suspicious device. No reports on it being connected to any one person, muslim or otherwise.
Those buildings have security cameras all over them, making it an odd place to choose to leave a suspicious package.
But on the other hand I live a block away and it does seem the police are taking this pretty seriously. Shutting down Potrero at rush hour is a pretty drastic move, and there are cops *everywhere*.
Better safe then sorry I guess, but right now I'm more worried about pedestrians being mowed down on Hampshire St. by frustrated rish hour drivers (they are *flying* down my block when they get the chance) then I am by any potential bomb.
Matty - I think the "and sometimes Y" rule could have justifiably been applied here!
You're probably right -- but there's no reason to be a fanatic.
say matty matt, how did that make you feel? hey, the phone's work and my very calm and cool sup. just said that the package was succesfully taken away by the bomb squad. nuther day on potrero st.
ALL CLEAR!! The cops removed the item for further examination and opened the road and people can go back into the hospital. yet another overreaction. Like that incident in the starbucks a while back.
CBS5 says ``The device was rendered safe by the bomb squad, according to San Francisco police Sgt. Neville Gittens.``
It was a "fake" pipe bomb. Or maybe just a pipe. Who knows.
Everyone has been watching too much 24.
(My office is a couple blocks away, fyi).
Just as a follow up, I work at SFGH for UCSF about 30 feet from the corner they blocked off. Personally, I don't think they over reacted at all - they we're just taking the right precautions. Furthermore, there's no way anyone at SFGH would be scared by a "brown" person carrying something: that would be about 60 percent of the people passing through or working at SFGH in general. It's a highly diverse place.
Land of the free, home of the brave.
Actually, it looks like it was a real pipe bomb:
sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/07/BAGFSQAVCA4.DTL
Hmm real bomb. What the kid look like?