Discarded NYC theatre prop sparks bomb scare
A New York City playwright has unwittingly sparked a bomb scare after throwing away a fake suicide vest, a production prop, into the trash at his home.
New Jersey native Ethan Fishbane, 23, who wrote, directed and performed in a stage show called 'American Suicide Bombers Association', was preparing to move out of his apartment when he found and discarded the old prop.
“I didn’t think. I just threw this prop bomb away,” Fishbane told the New York Post.
“I didn’t think twice about it, because, literally, it’s two blocks of clay, a calculator that’s cut in half and some wires from a Gameboy.
"It’s stupid stuff.
"And the belt was actually like a workout belt, something I got at a Sports Authority,” he said.
A building superintendent saw the prop in Fishbane's trash the next morning and immediately called police.
According to The Post, moments later the NYPD’s Bomb Squad, Emergency Service Unit and Sixth Precinct were on the scene.
The Joint Terrorism Task Force and Arson Squad were also reportedly put on notice.
"Detectives and police were covering Bedford Street,” Fishbane said.
“They were cutting open garbage bags. The whole street was kind of littered."
It didn't take long for investigators to figure out what had happened, and come looking for Fishbane.
"At first, I didn’t know what they were talking about. [But then] I was like, ‘Oh, my God! I think that’s my prop. I think that’s mine.’"
Fishbane says he was stunned when officers knocked on his door, but he praised the department for its quick response, saying it was "wholly appropriate."
The 23-year-old wrote the play while attending New York University's Tisch School of The Arts.
