FLATIRON DISTRICT — Police were looking for a man who placed what they thought was a bomb in a telephone booth near Madison Square Park Tuesday morning.
A surveillance video of the suspect released by the NYPD showed him carrying what appears to be a white rope and two pieces of wood with a red flashing light at the corner of Fifth Avenue and West 25th Street about 3 a.m.
Police were alerted to the object about 7 a.m. after receiving a 911 call about a suspicious device.
The object, which the Bomb Squad X-rayed and found contained no explosives, consisted of a black pipe attached to two 5-foot pieces of wood with a white cord and a red LED light, according to a police spokesman.
“It was just wood, ropes and a LED light. Nothing that can do any kind of damage. It was not an explosive device,” a NYPD spokesman said.
The suspect, who was wearing dark pants and a beige baseball hat at the time of the incident, can be seen on the video checking one telephone booth before shoving the wood pieces inside an adjacent telephone booth. Afterward, he walked southbound on Broadway.
The NYPD is asking anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). The public can also submit tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.
