I saw this story in the Winnipeg Free Press yesterday. There was a bicycle and a suitcase chained to a sign downtown and someone decided it must be a bomb because they couldn’t find the owner. The cops blocked off traffic and brought in a fucking robot.
Police blew up the suitcase around 8 p.m. to a loud bang and a blast of white smoke, but the suitcase turned out to be a dud.
“There is no indication there was anything explosive (in the suitcase),” Michalyshen said.
I have issues with the police overreaction but I have greater issues with the story’s use of words. I don’t think it counts as a “dud” if it was a suitcase filled with non-explosive materials that wasn’t trying to be a bomb. Using the word dud in the story implies that it was a bomb that was faulty. Matt Preprost calls it a dud twice in the story to justify an overreaction by scared people. It seems that it was actually a functional suitcase and didn’t “fail to work properly” until the police blew it up since its proper function was containing shit.
Stupid.
