Word to all Chris Rock impersonators out there: joking about carrying a bomb at an airport can only make you a headliner in court.
The latest person to learn that lesson the hard way is a doctor whose wisecrack about carrying C-4 explosives at Miami International Airport led to an evacuation and a visit from the bomb squad, and earned him a fine of almost $90,000.
Venezuelan doctor Manuel Alvarado, 60, agreed to pay a fine of $89,172 in exchange for prosecutors dropping charges of making a false bomb threat and criminal mischief. His attorney, Brian Bieber, told AFP it was a “momentary lapse of reason in making these statements,” adding, “He is extremely remorseful. He had no intent to place anyone in fear. He made what turned out to be the worst mistake of his life.”
This was just the latest in a series of post-September 11 gaffes where fliers found out just how seriously airports take jokes about bombs. For instance, a man on a plane at Mactan-Cebu International Airport in the Philippines was arrested in November for joking to a flight attendant that he couldn’t place his bag in the overhead bin because he was carrying explosives.
The same kind of arrest happened at Miami’s airport last year when a 43-year-old man joked to a TSA agent that he was carrying a bomb.
(yahoonews.com)
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