This backpack brought downtown to a standstill.
After a portable scanner revealed no threat in an abandoned backpack, downtown streets were reopened Tuesday night.
Downtown traffic was jammed during rush hour as the fire department investigated a bomb scare in front of First Niagara Bank.
Crews rushed to the bank’s headquarters tower by the Green, and cops blocked off nearby streets after the call came in at 5:39 p.m.
A federal marshal reported finding an unattended backpack at the bus stop on Church Street near the corner of Elm. The bomb squad was called to the scene.
Members of the squad used a portable scanner to check out the backpack. They found out that it was harmless; it contained schoolbooks and papers So a little after 7 p.m., the threat was called off, and traffic resumed to normal.
A second, false suspicious package call came in during the commotion, from over at Church and Chapel. (And police investigated a separate false threat, phoned in the state cops, to “blow up” department headquarters at Union Ave., according to police spokesman Officer David Hartman.)
Before the conclusion of the backpack incident, cops were called to help deal with snarled traffic. Originally cops shut down the intersection of Temple and Elm Streets, and shut down Church Street beginning at Chapel. Wall Street was closed too.
“i’ve been stuck for 25 minutes,” said a frustrated Darnell Perry, as she sat behind the wheel on Temple Street.
Joshua Mamis Photo
Connor Lepense (pictured) was stuck at Temple, too. It had been 10 minutes. “I’m on my way to pick up my buddy in dialysis,” he said. His buddy wasn’t happy.
“My poor dogs!” yelled another woman stuck nearby.
Just then the traffic started moving.