Thinking Before Acting - A Theme for Delinquents and the Police

This "kid" is clearly an idiot. You don't make a even something slightly resembling a bomb in the People's Republic without causing a major over-reaction.

Andrew J. Spalt of Barnstable pleaded not guilty to possessing an explosive device during his arraignment before Barnstable District Judge Joan Lynch. A pretrial hearing was set for Feb. 11.

Spalt’s attorney, Edward Lynch of Barnstable, said, “This is an 18-year-old kid who made some foolish choices. ... There wasn’t any intent to destroy anything or hurt someone.”

He said he believed the charges should ultimately be reduced to either disturbing the peace or disorderly conduct.

Police said someone reported an explosion at the parking lot at about 6:15 p.m. Tuesday. The first officer who arrived at the scene found pieces of a plastic soda bottle littering the lot and another intact bottle that appeared to be suspicious. The latter bottle was detonated by the State Police Bomb Squad.

But from the film footage on the news this was clearly a soda bomb. Something that requires a bottle some baking soda and vinegar. The bomb squad used a disruption device to "detonate" the "bomb." Can't be too safe you say? Sure, once you've determined what the device is then you could walk up and pop it with a pointy stick.

Its also nice to see that the Police Bomb Squad gets lots of film coverage over-reacting as well.