![]() ![]() ![]() "Everything is a bomb until we say it's not a bomb, " said Ryan. John Ryan said it's necessary to assume the worst until the team moves in. This time, he determined that this time, there was nothing to it. The team sped to the scene with sirens screaming. The bomb squad was called to check out a backpack found in a park near a police headquarters checkpoint. When CNN traveled with them on a call, it was Abbate's turn to wear the gear. "We actually have arguments over who's taking the job," added Abbate. Everyone knows what they have to do," he said.ĭespite the immense dangers associated with the work, whenever the unit checks out a suspicious package, bomb technicians jockey for the opportunity to suit up. We go to a job, there's very little talk. Greg Abbate also was there for the "real thing" in Times Square. "The more you do, and the more you get involved, the better you'll get when it's the real thing," Clair said.ĭet. Put on gloves, and it's hard to imagine that anyone in such bulky gear could maneuver and dismantle possible bomb components. A helmet is cinched on around the neck, and an air hose keeps outside air flowing into the mask. The feet nearly look like those of a platypus, the material is stiff and hot, and the chest plate is heavy. With help, bomb techs first crawl into an 85-pound protective suit that covers their bodies from head to toe. Still, a human touch often can't be avoided. The squad doesn't want to publicize more specific details. They're capable of blowing out windows, blasting a suspicious package to bits, photographing an object from several angles and sending those images to investigators. It was.īut robots, as sophisticated as they are, can only do so much. "Is that the robot that checks out bombs?" she asked. On a busy side street outside their Manhattan offices, neighbors watched them go through their paces with the robot.Īnother passerby snapped a picture of the robot with her cell phone. The K-9 is named for a member of the squad who died in the 9/11 attacks when one of the twin towers collapsed. I identified it as a bomb, and I had to look twice," Clair said.Īfter 13 years as a bomb tech, that night was the one Clair says he'll remember the most.Ĭlair and LaScala are part of New York's elite bomb squad, a unit whose size is a closely guarded secret.ĬNN was given special access to the unit in order to find out what a more typical day can be like.ĭuring one recent 16-hour shift, I watched the same five-man team who worked the bungled bomb plot in Times Square check their equipment, catch up on paperwork and make sure Dan-O, their explosives-sniffing dog, was raring to go. "This was the first time that I went down on a vehicle, and I saw clocks and wires and gas and propane. LaScala was manipulating the police robot that laid the groundwork for one of his partners, Det. Then, you start to put the pieces together and you think, 'Wow,' " LaScala said in an exclusive interview. "You're home the next day, and you're really thinking about it. Patrick LaScala of the New York Police Department swears never entered his mind. Doing it with news cameras rolling on a busy Saturday night in the middle of Times Square is something Det. New York (CNN) - Staring down a smoking homemade bomb and dismantling it is dangerous enough. Despite the dangers, squad members eager to be the one to suit up when a call comes in.Greg Abbate: "There's a very strong bond between us" CNN visits the bomb squad that handled the recent Times Square incident. ![]()
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