|
|
|
Four Berwyn police officers and a Comcast Cable driver were in quarantine for more than an hour late Tuesday afternoon after the driver brought a Comcast cable box leaking an unknown white powder into the police department.
“A Comcast driver found it somewhere and didn’t know what to do with it and brought it in here,” Assistant Berwyn Fire Chief Frank Simek said late Tuesday afternoon from the police station.
Simek said a hazardous materials box alarm was pulled at about 3:15 p.m., triggering Berwyn fire personnel to respond to the police department for the box. Actor Patrick Swayze was filming a new movie in the police department's basement at the time, and did not come in contact with the box.
"The front of the police station looks like a movie set," Berwyn Police Chief William Kushner said.
The driver picked up the box at the Comcast receiving center at Oak Park Avenue and Madison in Oak Park, and brought it to the Comcast payment processing center at Stanley and East Avenue in Berwyn.
“When unloading it to bring it in they noticed (it was leaking) a white, powdery substance,” Simek said. “They decided to bring it to the police department to test for narcotics.”
Kushner said it tested negative for narcotics.
“It’s not a big box of cocaine,” Kushner said. “Cornstarch.”
Fire crews tested the box for explosives and other dangerous substances, such as ricin.
“It’s possibly corn starch,” Simek said at about 5 p.m. “Either corn starch or foot powder.”
The driver and four officers were released from quarantine shortly before 5 p.m.
Kushner said the incident wasn’t linked to the elections Tuesday. The Berwyn Police Department, 6401 W. 31st St., served as the staging area at 5 p.m. for 80 suburban police officers preparing to mobilize as extra manpower for Presidential candidate Barack Obama’s rally tonight in Grant Park.
“It’s not the best of timing,” Kushner said before crews called off the hazmat alarm.
The incident was the first time a suspicious box was brought into the police department for identification, he said. There have been two cases in his three years as chief in which residents have called police for suspicious parcels in the streets, but those tested negative for dangerous substances, as well, Kushner said.
Four Berwyn police officers and a Comcast Cable driver were in quarantine for more than an hour late Tuesday afternoon after the driver brought a Comcast cable box leaking an unknown white powder into the police department.
“A Comcast driver found it somewhere and didn’t know what to do with it and brought it in here,” Assistant Berwyn Fire Chief Frank Simek said late Tuesday afternoon from the police station.
Simek said a hazardous materials box alarm was pulled at about 3:15 p.m., triggering Berwyn fire personnel to respond to the police department for the box. Actor Patrick Swayze was filming a new movie in the police department's basement at the time, and did not come in contact with the box.
"The front of the police station looks like a movie set," Berwyn Police Chief William Kushner said.
The driver picked up the box at the Comcast receiving center at Oak Park Avenue and Madison in Oak Park, and brought it to the Comcast payment processing center at Stanley and East Avenue in Berwyn.
“When unloading it to bring it in they noticed (it was leaking) a white, powdery substance,” Simek said. “They decided to bring it to the police department to test for narcotics.”
Kushner said it tested negative for narcotics.
“It’s not a big box of cocaine,” Kushner said. “Cornstarch.”
Fire crews tested the box for explosives and other dangerous substances, such as ricin.
“It’s possibly corn starch,” Simek said at about 5 p.m. “Either corn starch or foot powder.”
The driver and four officers were released from quarantine shortly before 5 p.m.
Kushner said the incident wasn’t linked to the elections Tuesday. The Berwyn Police Department, 6401 W. 31st St., served as the staging area at 5 p.m. for 80 suburban police officers preparing to mobilize as extra manpower for Presidential candidate Barack Obama’s rally tonight in Grant Park.
“It’s not the best of timing,” Kushner said before crews called off the hazmat alarm.
The incident was the first time a suspicious box was brought into the police department for identification, he said. There have been two cases in his three years as chief in which residents have called police for suspicious parcels in the streets, but those tested negative for dangerous substances, as well, Kushner said.
