👉 Boston.com article

👉 Wiki

On the morning of January 31, 2007, the Boston Police Department and the Boston Fire Department mistakenly identified battery-powered LED placards depicting the Mooninites, characters from the Adult Swim animated television series Aqua Teen Hunger Force, as improvised explosive devices (IEDs), leading to a massive panic.

  • Biff@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    1 year ago

    I did see it and knew what it referenced. There was nothing scary at all about it, it was clearly an LED sign. I couldn’t believe how massive an over reaction there was to it by the police. Terrorists tend not to put bright LEDs on their weapons as an advertisement.

    • SCB@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      People were still pretty 9/11 crazy in those days and I remember thinking the reaction was way more entertaining than even the marketing.

      As a huge ATHF fan at the time, it just really spoke to me.

    • pelrun@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Boston PD were(are) out of their minds. They also blew up an ordinary traffic counting device deployed by the city.