FBI Search For Man Who Spilled Mercury On LA Subway

[951-Riverside]

Jan. 18 - Law enforcement officials say they want to question a man seen on videotape spilling a small amount of mercury onto the platform of an L.A. subway station.
FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller says there's no evidence to suggest the actions were terrorist or criminal acts.

But she says police, the FBI ,and other members of a multi-agency terrorism task force want to ask the unidentified man why he was carrying mercury and why he spilled it.

Video footage showed the man entering the downtown Pershing Square station on December 22nd and spilling a vial of liquid onto the platform.

The man appeared startled and walked to a Metropolitan Transit Authority call box, where he reported the mercury spill.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=state&id=4947799

Faux news will probably omit the very last part :eyes:

[Poll_Blind]

1. Weird. FWIW, that's why I have a mercrury cozie for my vials. n/t

PB

[IndianaGreen]

2. Terrorists don't report themselves to the authorities

Faux news will probably omit the very last part

And you are right in your observation that Faux will skip the last part. The network that showed LA being nuked by terrorists, is not about to stop feeding the public's paranoia.

[Just-plain-Kathy]

4. Now FOX is reporting how Hezbolah (sp?) has been planting

terrorists in our country for years.

[IndianaGreen]

5. Of course, only the US and Israel consider Hezbollah a terrorist organization

because doing so fits their strategic goals in the Middle East, to everyone else, Hezbollah is a legitimate political party which is part of the government of Lebanon. The American public, however, sees people in turbans as terrorists, even if they are Sikks from India.

[Boojatta]

12. Have you checked what all governments around the world say?

Of course, only the US and Israel consider Hezbollah a terrorist organization (...)

If you have checked what all governments around the world say, then there is still a problem for you: how do you know that those who don't say anything in fact have no opinion?

[MADem]

3. The whole story is OBSCURE. What do they mean by "spilling?"

Did the guy take out the vial, bellow "Ah HA!" deliberately uncork it, "spill" it, and then appear startled? Did he drop the thing, the cap came off, and the stuff dribbled out? Who the fuck walks around with a vial of mercury, like it's a martini or what-have-you?

Why didn't the Transport clowns ask for the guys name? Or did they, and it didn't check out?

This article poses more questions than it answers.

[Tesha]

6. Somebody who has to refill their barometer?

> Who the fuck walks around with a vial of mercury,
> like it's a martini or what-have-you?

Somebody who has to refill their barometer/manometer/
antique temperature-compensating clock pendulum?

There *ARE* some legitimate uses for liquid mercury.

Tesha

[MADem]

7. OK, let me be MORE specific: who the fuck walks around with a vial of mercury that is packaged in

such a way that it might be easily "spilled" in a goddamned subway??? I think that is a legitimate question. If it were some 'antiques geek' surely they'd know the proper way to transport the mercury, and wouldn't be waving it about like a cocktail to be spilled.

Come on. Read what I actually wrote. We don't trot off to the "mercury store" with our refillable coke bottle and buy it by the litre. If it was in a container that BROKE, why didn't the report say so? The use of the word SPILL makes the whole story seem questionable. And the fact that the Transport Police didn't bother to ask for the guy's NAME is also curious.

This happened a MONTH ago. Why, pray tell, is it being shopped around NOW?

Just a little "terra, terra, terra" nudge to the population, perhaps?

Be very afraid? It was just mercury, but it COULD have been (fill in name of your favorite toxic substance that causes horrible pain before death), perhaps?

What I am doing is called "reading between the lines." And what I read raises more questions than it answers.

[RawMaterials]

8. The Video

I watched on CNN this morning shows the guy get down on his knees and dump the stuff out get up and walk away.
I don't think it was an accident. IMO

[MADem]

9. Well, thanks for that. It suggests that it wasn't a "spill" at all, doesn't it?

Sounds more like a "planting" or a "dumping out" to me!

And we have to ask ourselves, cui bono? This happened a month ago, so why do we only hear about it NOW? Was this a "Be Very Afraid" exercise that they kept on the back burner? Who does that dumping guy work for? DHS?

The whole story stinks on ice....

[Ian David]

14. Maybe he was schizophrenic and thought the Mercury was alive?

Maybe he thought he was giving an animal (or alien lifeform) its freedom.

And then, once "free" on the platform, it announced to him, "You fool! Now the human race is doomed!"

Could be.

[MADem]

16. He thought it was that guy who was chasing ahh-nuld in Terminator, perhaps?

:rofl: Anything's possible, I imagine!

[Tesha]

11. My my! You certainly are mercurial. (NT)

[MADem]

17. Not at all. And since my first post, I've seen the video. It's "ODD" to say the least.

That's no 'antiques dealer' kneeling down and deliberately placing, not really spilling, the mercury on the subway platform.

There are some matters that simply INVITE questions. I'm as "live and let live" as the next person, but "spilling" or "planting" mercruy in the subway, then telephoning the metro cops about it and prancing off, is not everyday behavior. A legitimate individual wouldn't be a "mystery man," he'd say something like "My name is Joe Blow, I am an antiques dealer, and I dropped some mercury on the platform by accident and since it could be harmful, you need to have the hazmat guys come and clean it up." The fact that they didn't have an identification for the guy is curious--was he a DHS worker, an oddball, or someone testing the system?

Since then, the MTA is being investigated for their shitty response: http://www.kfmb.com/stories/story.77602.html

An investigation is under way into a bizarre incident in a Los Angeles subway station where a man spilled a vile of mercury on the platform.

MTA is admitting protocols were not followed after a man was seen spilling a vial of mercury on a train platform last month. It took eight hours before a HazMat team arrived.

The worry is because terrorists sometimes stage dry runs to test how quickly train workers respond to emergencies.

Sheriff's deputies want to question the man, but they do not think his actions are terror related.


And the media waiting a full month to report it is stranger still. Why? Did they just get the word, or was it in their queue of "stories with a long shelf life to be pulled out on a slow newsday" perhaps? Or is this news management, designed to make people have a renewed sense of unease, especially those who feel comfortable now with Democrats actually balancing the excesses of the executive branch? It's not an "Oh, well, nothing to see here" event. It's unusual. At minimum.

[uppityperson]

10. Maybe Mr.Science thought he had baking soda/water mix in the vial

That's why he was startled. From reading more, this goes in my WTF file.

[Mister K]

13. Could have been worse...

Could have had diet coke and a pack of mentos

[Dude_CalmDown]

15. LA has a subway?

[kestrel91316]

18. We sure do!

Check it out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_County_Metro_Rail