If You See Something . . .
. . . frist check the return address. Then freak out about it:
Posted: May 28th, 2008 | Filed under: Makes Jack Bauer Scream, "Dammit!", Staten IslandA suspicious package with a return address in Saudi Arabia set off a police response that led to the evacuation of an Elm Park neighborhood last night and forced Little Leaguers from their baseball diamonds.
In the end, the small cardboard box was found to contain nothing more dangerous than about 20 hardcover and paperback books on myriad topics, including Middle Eastern culture and the Islamic religion.
Jacqueline DeJesus found the package, which had a shipping label from Riyadh, on the front stoop of her Princess Street home and immediately grew concerned.
“It had my eldest daughter’s first name on it and my address and that was it,” she said. “I’m Puerto Rican and American and have no family in Saudi Arabia, so I have no idea how it ended up here.”
Her daughter is married to a man who emigrated from the Middle East. But Ms. DeJesus said she wasn’t expecting any mail from overseas.
At about 7 p.m., cops evacuated Mrs. DeJesus, her family and neighbors, and stopped games in progress on the nearby West Shore Little League and Babe Ruth League fields.
The NYPD Bomb Squad responded within the hour and — after careful examination — determined that the box didn’t pose a threat.