Brooklyn Bridge Closure Follows Abandoned Car, All-Clear Given


This Memorial Day, a nearly two-hour long Brooklyn Bridge closure followed the discovery of a very suspicious vehicle — but after the car was deemed not a threat, the span was reopened to holiday travelers.

The Brooklyn Bridge closure was put into place Monday at around 5:15 pm when police were alerted to an unoccupied Dodge Durango in the right lane in the middle of the bridge.

The SUV that prompted the Brooklyn Bridge closure did not have any tags, and USATodayreports that high-volume holiday weekend traffic was snarled in both directions following the discovery of the vehicle:

“Authorities said a call about the car, a Dodge Durango with no license plates on the Manhattan-bound lanes, came in around 5:15 p.m. Monday. The vehicle was stopped a short distance into the bridge’s span coming from the Brooklyn side of the East River.

“Police shut down traffic in both directions around 6 p.m., causing a traffic headache as drivers were forced to find alternate routes. Authorities declared the all-clear around 7 p.m., with traffic resuming soon after.”

Before the Brooklyn Bridge closure ended with the all-clear, a single officer with a bomb-sniffing dog was observed by news helicopters approaching the abandoned vehicle in street clothing and absent of protective gear.

In recent years, previous Brooklyn Bridge closures have affected both lanes of the span due to suspicious circumstances later determined to be false alarms. A few years back, a suspicious package on the crossing was deemed to be benign, and a year later, three pieces of luggage on the span were also found to be not a threat.

After the Brooklyn Bridge closure ended with an all-clear, the New York Police Department said cops were working to locate the car’s vehicle identification number (VIN) and determine who abandoned the car on the span and why.

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