Photo via NYPD special ops of suspect’s SUV barricaded by police vehicles.
The train system was detoured on Thursday after police got into a standoff with a man who they say tossed what looked like some sort of homemade explosive device into a police vehicle in midtown and sped off.
Subway lines were bypassing the busy Columbus Circle station during the standoff, but the station reopened a little before 9 a.m. after the man was captured. It turned out the device was a candle attached to some electrical components, police told NBC.
The man initially threw the device into an NYPD van at 46th street and 7th avenue just before midnight.
The two cops in the van, Sgt. Hameed Armani and officer Peter Cybulski, drove east to 46th Street because they didn’t know what the device was and wanted to get out of the heavily populated area. When they got to Sixth Avenue, they tossed the object onto the street. The bomb squad was called in and determined object to be a “hoax device” shortly after 1 a.m. Thursday.
About an hour later, police spotted the man in the Chrysler SUV and attempted to stop the vehicle in Columbus Circle. The man refused to get out of his vehicle and put on the helmet. That sparked a standoff with police, who surrounded the SUV with armored vehicles and officers in tactical gear.
Update: The suspect was identified as 52-year-old Hector Meneses. Sgt. Hameed Armani, who was driving the police van, said “he was prepared to die, but refused to let civilians die, too,” according to CNN.
So basically, these two officers stayed in a van with something they thought was an explosive device, and drove it away from a crowded area, to protect the crowds in that area. That is pretty courageous. I am glad it is a false alarm, but grateful to them for their courage in dealing with it.
this is what WestSider reports:
“The two cops in the van, Sgt. Hameed Armani and officer Peter Cybulski, drove east to 46th Street because they didn’t know what the device was and wanted to get out of the heavily populated area. When they got to Sixth Avenue, they tossed the object onto the street.”
you’re half right—they chose our safety over theirs, then after some consideration, changed their minds and threw the device back out the window onto the street. i guess west 46th street is less heavily populated, and their safety suddenly became more important than ours.
can’t anybody read anymore?
Geoff, I think we can read, but interpret the situation differently. No need to be rude.
About that ‘can’t anybody read anymore?’
Currently reads: “drove east to 46th Street”
If they ended on Sixth, they “drove east ON 46th Street”.
I was thinking the same thing.
I agree. This is what Police Officers are trained for. WSR Readers can keep this in mind next time complaints arise about their not spending resources guarding cars parked overnight on RSD or clearing Broadway/72.
What?
Read the article?
So, two police officers had a choice – throw the device out the window and endanger the public, or race very fast to a place where they could get rid of it safely but put their lives at jeopardy. These two officers chose our safety over theirs. I hope that our Mayor, Al Sharpton and the rest of the cop haters will reflect on this the next time they give comfort to the anti cop protestors. Thank you men and women in blue for keeping me safe..
Our mayor isn’t a cop-hater, but thanks for spewing venom.
If you’re not a cop supporter you’re a cop hater.
If you don’t hold cops to high standards, you’re a cop hater yourself, since you’re comfortable allowing them to be corrupted by their power and disgrace themselves. If you think cops can’t generally avoid murdering unarmed people, then you must have a damn low opinion of cops.
If you don’t support Daniel Pantaleo choking Eric Garner to death you’re a cop hater? Got it.
Re: “Daniel Pantaleo choking Eric Garner to death”
REALLY! The fact that 2 cops, one of whom grew up in AFGHANISTAN (see DNAinfo story), risked their lives to protect ordinary people from the actions of a crackpot (at this point they could NOT know that the “bomb” was a fake) mean nothing because, ACCORDING TO YOU,in a totally unrelated incident TWO YEARS EARLIER another police officer acted irresponsibly and unprofessionally.
You keep playing the Garner/Pantelo thing over and over…like a one-note melody, it Gets MONOTONOUS!
People, please stop. Regardless of where they stopped, their intent was to save lives. Can’t we be thankful for their courage? End of story.