A failed car bomb smoked, popped and shut down Times Square, causing panic, evacuations and confusion Saturday on one of the tourist spot's busiest nights.
Police said a Nissan Pathfinder at West 45th Street and Seventh Avenue was left loaded with a bomb made from two clocks, three propane gas tanks, two additional one-gallon gas canisters and fireworks.
"It appeared that [the bomb] was in the process of detonating and malfunctioned," said police spokesman Paul Browne.
A street vendor alerted a policeman on mounted patrol—Wayne Rhatigan, 47 years old, a 19-year-veteran of the force. In an interview, Mr. Rhatigan said he smelled gunpowder coming from the vehicle and went toward it, thinking it could explode at any second. He grabbed two other officers to help move people away from the smoking Pathfinder as he called for backup at 6:34 p.m.
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In a statement, the administration said that the president, who attended an annual dinner for White House news correspondents Saturday night, praised the response by the New York Police Department. The president has also directed his homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, to advise New York officials that the federal government is prepared to provide support, the Associated Press reported....
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