Star Simpson, College Student, Arrested with Fake Bomb at Boston Airport

In what she probably thought would either be a funny joke, an interesting political statement, or an art project, a college student at MIT in Boston went to Logan airport to meet someone arriving and got herself in a little trouble. She decided to dress for the part, that's for sure - she apparently showed up with something that looked like a "device" on the outside of her shirt, and some play-doh in her hand. She told officers that she was displaying "art." And that it was part of a course.

When the police showed the sweatshirt Simpson was wearing it didn't look anything like a bomb. It was a 9 volt battery plugged into a fake circuit board pasted on the back, with the words "socket to me" and "Course VI." The circuit board didn't even look real, but you can imagine some being very concerned. Alot of people at airports are often on edge anyway.

I was in the airline business for a few years, and have seen quite a few different outfits show up. I worked at LAX, LAS, and other high volume airports. Still, I don't remember anyone wearing a fake bomb. Thins is the same city that went on full freak-out mode over those glorified lite-brites that were being put out to advertise the movie Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Not exactly the city to pull a security prank in, especially at the airport. The same airport that some of the 9/11 hijackers boarded aircraft at. You can imagine they don't want to drop the ball like that again, so they just might be a little on edge.

In typical bravado cop-speak, a spokesman for the police said that Star Simpson was "lucky she was in jail, and not the morgue." Well, possibly, as trigger-happy cops aren't something we have never heard about before. The story is of personal interest to me for a couple of reasons. First, having spent so much time in airports I find them fascinating. Second, I had a somewhat similar event happen to me.