Crime & Safety
Unattended Suitcase Shuts Down Flatbush Avenue
Barclays Center and nearby businesses evacuated for about 20 minutes during the investigation of the suitcase on the sidewalk at Bergen and Dean.
By Amy Sara Clark and Will Yakowicz
Police shut down both sides of Flatbush Avenue for about 30 minutes Friday afternoon to investigate an unattended suitcase that was sitting on the sidewalk between Bergen and Dean Street, NYPD officials on the scene said.
The street was shut down at about 3:20 p.m. and people evacuated from the Barclays Center and several stores and restaurants due to the blue case left in the middle of the sidewalk in front of the closed Tillary Kitchen and Bath.
The NYPD's emergency services unit, informally known as a bomb squad, arrived at about 3:20 p.m.
According to police on the scene, the Bomb Squad found only white sheets and blankets from the now-closed St. Vincents Catholic Medical Center inside the suitcase.
The street was reopend to traffic by 3:40 p.m.
On Tuesday, the Ave. H subway station in Ditmas Park was closed for an hour during morning rush due to similar police activity concerning an unattended binder found wrapped in a subway map.
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