mbta: Wollaston station?

Beowabbit (

beowabbit) wrote in

mbta,
@ 2007-06-27 11:35:00

Wollaston station?
Hi. Anybody happen to know why Wollaston Station on the Braintree branch of the Red Line was shut down for a while this morning? It involved lots of cops at Quincy Center. (As my shuttle bus was en route to North Quincy, the driver got the word that service was resumed, and let us off at Wollaston instead.)

I don’t see anything on mbta.com or Boston.com at the moment.

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madfilkentist
2007-06-27 04:03 pm UTC (link)

Here's a news item that seems to match. After reading this, I'm NEVER going to report a "suspicious package" on the T!

Passengers aboard the Red Line between Quincy Center and Wollaston on Wednesday morning were greeted with a shock when service was halted and FBI, along with MBTA police, boarded the train with guns telling everyone to get down, then line up, then exit the train.

According to the MBTA, someone had reported that there was a suspicious package on the train. That is when the MBTA stopped the service and had everyone removed while the train was checked.

No suspicious package was ever found and service was resumed on the Red Line.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	ron_newman 2007-06-27 04:09 pm UTC (link)
	It's ridiculous. They could have just run the train normally to the end of the line, Braintree, then looked for and removed any 'packages' while the train was changing ends to return north. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	littlestarletta 2007-06-27 06:55 pm UTC (link)
	you are smarter than the T. you win. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	aki 2007-06-28 04:33 am UTC (link)
	Er, assuming worst case scenario and all, don't you want to get it ASAP lest it blow up? (Reply to this)(Parent)

	beowabbit 2007-06-27 04:36 pm UTC (link)
	Thanks! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	sup3rmark 2007-06-27 09:03 pm UTC (link)
	Remember: if you see people with guns on the T, text TIP to CRIME. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	ilai 2007-06-27 07:32 pm UTC (link)
	More information has apparently come out. Boston.com now says that it was a man threatening to blow up the train. I guess that's why they didn't try to run the train further.... (Reply to this)(Thread)

madfilkentist
2007-06-28 10:16 am UTC (link)

Even so, unless there are factors that still haven't been mentioned in the several news articles now available, the police's actions were uncalled for and endangered people rather than protecting them.

In more civilized times this would be self-evident, but I suppose I should back that up given the way things are now.

The reports give no indication of an immediate danger or hostage situation, only of someone's uttering a threat. Arresting the person who made the threat is appropriate. But whenever police come in with guns drawn, they create a danger. Someone -- the suspect, an innocent bystander, or a cop -- might panic and create a situation where someone gets shot. Someone might otherwise get injured or suffer a stress-related incident. Even in the absence of overt harm, there has to be a good reason for putting people in fear with a display of force.

In any police situation, these risks and costs must be weighed against the risks from not having guns ready; this is why cops don't routinely draw their guns every time they talk to someone. It's thoroughly unlikely that drawing guns and making people get down would have prevented a bomber from carrying out his plot. By definition, suicide bombers aren't deterred by the threat of death. The action could prevent a bombing only if the police went in ready to shoot at anything that looked like an attempt to set off a bomb -- and if that was the case, they were seriously putting people's lives in danger.

"Protection from terrorism" is a handy excuse for abuse of power.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	tckma 2007-06-28 01:01 am UTC (link)
	I'm not sure, but I did notice a lot of transit police when I got off the Commuter Rail train at South Station this morning. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	legallyboston 2007-06-28 03:50 pm UTC (link)
	Maybe I'm just ~~dumb~~ blonde but what does your icon say?? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	beowabbit 2007-06-28 04:32 pm UTC (link)
	I’m guesing Great Big Sea. (Reply to this)(Parent)

tckma
2007-06-28 04:55 pm UTC (link)

It's Great Big Sea, my favorite band. It's written that way because of Mass's stupid vanity plate rules (can only have 6 letters, and numbers can only be at the end -- I'd have preferred to write it as GR8BGC, but I had to work with what I had, hence the "T" in the middle).

I have Carbon Leaf (CBNLF) on my motorcycle (only 5 letters allowed on motorcycle vanities).

I figured these would be fitting because they're my two favorite groups, and I collect license plates (yes, it's legal).

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	legallyboston 2007-06-29 01:49 pm UTC (link)
	Ahhh, gotcha. My license plate says LINDSAY on it, LOL. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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