A young woman, Star Simpson, walked into Logan Airport today with a fake bomb (Correction- device that was mistaken for a bomb), made of lights, wires, and putty attached to her chest.
An MIT student wearing a device on her chest that included lights and wires was arrested at gunpoint at Logan International Airport this morning after authorities thought the contraption was a bomb strapped to her body.
Star Simpson, 19, was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and approached an airport employee in Terminal C at 8 a.m. to inquire about an incoming flight from Oakland, according to Major Scott Pare of the State Police. She was holding a lump of what looked like putty in her hands. The employee asked about the plastic circuit board on her chest, and Simpson walked away without responding, Pare said.
Outside the terminal, Simpson was surrounded by police holding machine guns.
"She was immediately told to stop, to raise her hands, and not make any movement so we could observe all her movements to see if she was trying to trip any type of device," Pare said at a press conference at Logan. "There was obviously a concern that had she not followed the protocol ... we may have used deadly force."
Simpson was arrested, and it was quickly determined that the device was harmless.
"She said it was a piece of art and she wanted to stand out on career day," Pare said. "She was holding what was later found to be playdough."
First off, had this been any other country, she might have been shot on sight, some would say, rightly so.
She is going to be charged with possessing a hoax device.
Thats it?
Furthermore her bail was only $750 and she pleaded not guilty?
Simpson pleaded not guilty to a charge of possessing a hoax device at her arraignment in East Boston District Court Friday afternoon. She was released on $750 bail and ordered to stay away from Logan Airport.
Simpson could face up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
"I'm shocked and appalled that somebody would wear this type of device to an airport," Pare said.
Simpson was "extremely lucky she followed the instructions or deadly force would have been used," Pare said. "She's lucky to be in a cell as opposed to the morgue."
Treating this as simply a hoax or just bad judgment, in my mind, is a serious mistake.
She had to understand the fear she would be creating for anyone that saw her with that "fake bomb" strapped to her chest. She had to also understand that she could have been shot and ended up dead.
Something is seriously wrong when all we do is give someone that deliberately instills fear and terror, especially at an airport, one where two of the 9/11 flights originated no less, nothing more than a slap on the wrist?
Have we learned nothing?
Un freaking real.
.