Gee, if only real terrorists were this obvious…..
Friday, September 21, 2007
BOSTON — An MIT student with a fake bomb strapped to her chest was arrested at gunpoint Friday at Logan International Airport and later claimed it was artwork, officials said.
Star Simpson, 19, had a computer circuit board and wiring in plain view over a black hooded sweat shirt she was wearing, said State Police Maj. Scott Pare, the commanding officer at the airport.
“She said that it was a piece of art and she wanted to stand out on career day,” Pare said at a news conference. “She claims that it was just art, and that she was proud of the art and she wanted to display it.”
The device had wires connected to a battery, allowing it to light up, he said. Simpson also had Play-Doh in her hands, he said.
Simpson was charged with disturbing the peace and possessing a hoax device, and was to be arraigned in East Boston District Court later Friday.“I’m shocked and appalled that somebody would wear this type of device to an airport,” Pare said.
Simpson was “extremely lucky she followed the instructions or deadly force would have been used,” Pare said. “She’s lucky to be in a cell as opposed to the morgue.”Simpson is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology sophomore from Hawaii, officials said. A spokeswoman for MIT had no immediate comment.
She was arrested about 8 a.m. outside Terminal C, home to United Airlines, Jet Blue and other carriers.
A Massachusetts Port Authority staffer manning an information booth in the terminal became suspicious when Simpson — wearing the device — approached to ask about an incoming flight, Pare said. Simpson then walked outside, and the information booth attendant notified a nearby trooper.The trooper, joined by others with submachine guns, confronted her at a traffic island in front of the terminal.
Pare said Simpson took a subway to the airport, but he was not sure if she had the device on at that time.
“She was allegedly picking somebody up,” said Pare.
With a name like “Star”, you just know she’s a ‘space cadet’. This fine example of a magna-cum-moron attends MIT, no less. She wants “art”? Keep the little moonbat in a local jail cell for awhile, where she can gaze upon the creative “art” provided by previous occupants. Idiot.
Computer boards are art to many MIT students. When we have lost the ability to express ourselves terrorism wins.
Jesse,
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say your comment is thinly-veiled sarcasm. That aside, she’s still scatterbrained.
SFC MAC
This proves once again (ad infinitum, ad nauseum, amen, it seems) that intelligent and smart are not congruent terms. Having been exposed to a great number of Mensans over the course of my happily misspent life, I can say without fear of contradiction that some of the dumbest people I have ever met have had some of the highest IQs I have ever seen. Case closed.
Posted by: Phil
phil@poseiden.org
And look, her RESUME is also to be found in Google’s cache:
http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:http://stars.mit.edu/resume.pdf
Well Phil, let’s see what
twinkle’sStar’s accomplishments are:Socially-interacting robots for weight loss? Computerized Ping Pong? Okay, she’s done a bit of optometry and some computer work…
Alot of that stuff sounds like hyped-up new-age ‘diversity’ crap. I’ve got a RESUME, too. Over 30 years of military experience(combat included),training and schools, as well as an Associates in Applied Science. She’s got (some)education and no common sense. That kid may very well graduate with that BA in Engineering she’s shooting for, but if she keeps pulling bone-headed shit like she did at Logan, it won’t count for much.
The girl’s name isn’t her fault, and the State Police reacted totally out of proportion.
I’ve taken circuit boards through the airport in the past—sometimes, you really do have to take your work on vacation—and I’m disappointed that the MassPort official and the State Police can’t tell the difference between a student with a homemade light-up sweatshirt and a terrorist.
Kat, let’s dissect this and see if it passes the common sense test……
She was wearing a computer keyboard with wires hanging out of it, connected to a battery. You’re an airport security officer seeing this thing. Is it a bomb? Maybe yes, maybe no. In this case it was a scatterbrained college kid who thought it would look “cool” as wearable “art”. Unfortunately, it could also be mistaken for a suspicious device. Typical airport security personnel are about as smart as she is, and have even less common sense when it comes to real threats. What possessed her to wear something in an airport– post 9/11– that she knew would cause some consternation? Suffice it to say she didn’t give the situation a whole lot of thought.
SFC MAC