USA: Rice cookers in New York subway spark security scare

M/S Pedestrians walking by Fulton Street metro station cordoned off with yellow tape, New York
M/S Entry to Fulton Street metro station cordoned off with yellow tape
M/S Police officers
SOT, Edward Delatorre, Chief of Transit: "They [two anti-terrorist officers] were approached by a passenger who alerted them to the fact that there was a package on the platform. The officers responded over and called in for more resources, and that's where the job went as of now. Both turned out to be rice cookers, there were actually two."
M/S Street cordoned off with yellow tape *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Edward Delatorre, Chief of Transit: "We had one additional job that may or may not be related, up on 16th Street and 7th Avenue, that came in about ten after eight this morning as a suspicious package. It was an additional rice cooker that was put out with the garbage, and that was also found to be just an empty rice cooker."
M/S Street cordoned off with yellow tape; police officers
M/S Vehicle driving with emergency lighting
SOT, Andy Byford, Chief Executive Officer of the New York City Transit Authority: "There had been these two suspicious packages found off the 2/3 platform here at Fulton Street. We immediately, acting up on police advice, putting safety first for our customers, we immediately suspended service on line two and three, and we commenced bypassing services on the other lines."
M/S Police officers walking *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Andy Byford, Chief Executive Officer of the New York City Transit Authority: "We had one train to evacuate at Fulton Street, that was done in orderly fashion, it was done quickly. Customers were taken off the train and evacuated to street level. We had one other train that had to be taken back to Wall Street, but again there were no injuries, it was done calmly."
C/U Police tape *CUTAWAY*
SOT, John Miller, NYPD Deputy Commissioner: "So we reviewed the video at the scene. We do see a male, white, between 20s and 30s, with dark hair and a shopping cart. He places the pressure cooker on the upper level and then on the lower level. So there's a person of interest. Obviously we'd like to speak this person. I would stop very short of calling him a suspect, because of the time, rush hour, place, a subway station, the items - rice cookers that could be mistaken for pressure cookers. It's certainly the kind of thing that we would want to know, why is he placing them there and what is the purpose of that."
W/S Bystanders
M/S Police officers walking
C/U Fulton Street sign
SOT, bystander: "It didn't seem so scary, they blocked up all the street so we tried to manoeuvre around. But, that's basically it. It's not really scary, it's just like daily life."
M/S Police vehicle driving
M/S Bystanders
SCRIPT
Two suspicious packages that turned out to be rice cookers sparked a security scare in New York's Fulton Street subway station during rush-hour on Friday morning. Trains were diverted and passengers evacuated.
Footage shows the subway station and surrounding area cordoned off by police tape.
"Customers were taken off the train and evacuated to street level. We had one other train that had to be taken back to Wall Street, but again there were no injuries, it was done calmly," explained Andy Byford, the Chief Executive Officer of the New York City Transit Authority, while addressing the press.
A third "suspicious package" was found on 16th Street and 7th Avenue in New York. "It was an additional rice cooker that was put out with the garbage, and that was also found to be just an empty rice cooker," said Chief of Transit Edward Delatorre. It is not known at this time whether the three packages are connected.
The three rice cookers are of the same make, year and model.
The person who was seen dropping the rice cookers was described a white man with dark hair, who is in his 20s or 30s. New York Police Department Deputy Commissioner John Miller refrained from calling him a suspect, but referred to him as a "person of interest."
"Obviously we'd like to speak this person. I would stop very short of calling him a suspect, because of the time, rush hour, place, a subway station, the items - rice cookers that could be mistaken for pressure cookers. It's certainly the kind of thing that we would want to know, why is he placing them there and what is the purpose of that."
According to reports, the man in question is named Larry Griffin II, a 26-year-old from West Viriginia. He is still sought by the police.