Bomb-shaped speakers set off panic in Manhattan

A police officer stands near a minivan on Friday on East 67th Street in Manhattan. New York City police closed adjacent streets after a report of a suspicious device in the vehicle. The chaos that unfolded on East 67th Street during the morning rush started with a stereo speaker that looked like a bomb. PHOTO: NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE

The easy listening habits of Grantley Richards met with a large police response early on Friday, shutting several Manhattan blocks and causing a brief panic.

The chaos that unfolded on East 67th Street during the morning rush started with a stereo speaker that looked like a bomb.

Eventually, the drama ended up involving several Slovakian diplomats, the Japanese ambassador to the UN and a robot that fires water projectiles.

When it was all over, Richards' minivan, where he has listened to much jazz and some reggae, sat covered in police tape, with most of its windows blown out.

A law enforcement official said it was Richards' love of bass that caused the problem.

The police gave this account: About 8am, Richards' minivan, a Mercury Villager, was parked on East 67th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues, outside the residence of the Japanese ambassador to the UN.

A woman who works in a building on the block noticed a strange device inside it, and the police were summoned. The device was a cylinder with wires sticking out if it, and numbers on its display kept changing.

The police department's bomb disposal unit sprang into action, deploying a robot that fired a water projectile through the minivan's windows and then took X-rays of the interior.

Time Three blocks of Fifth Avenue were shut down, as well as 67th Street between Fifth and Madison. The police developed the X-rays.

At some point, some people who worked for the Slovak Republic's permanent representative to the UN ran out of their building and down Madison -- to the displeasure of officers trying to keep the area calm -- according to a building worker who witnessed the episode, Ron Dikoli.

Determining the device was not an explosive, the police sent an officer wearing a bomb resistant suit to recover the thing, which Richards described later, in an interview at his home in the Bronx.

He said it was a speaker that enhances the bass.

"I'm able to enjoy the music the way I like to hear it," he said.

Of the flashing numbers, he said: "I kind of liked the luminescence of it."

Richards, who works as a houseman at luxury hotels, said the police were apologetic, telling him that the city would pay for the damage to his car, which he estimated at more than US$1,000.

Of his parking space on Friday, he said, "I'll probably try to avoid that spot in the future."