An unattended piece of luggage left outside the Nassau Inn Friday led to a part of downtown Princeton being evacuated until law enforcement determined the bag posed no safety threat.
By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
An unattended piece of luggage left outside the Nassau Inn Friday led to a part of downtown Princeton being evacuated until law enforcement determined the bag posed no safety threat.
Bomb squad technicians were at the scene to check things out, as the luggage containing clothes and other personal items was spotted around 5:43 p.m. by a member of the U.S. Marshals Service “near a structural support to the building,” police said.
Authorities said that witnesses told them the bag had been left there for more than an hour. Surveilance video was “inconclusive” as to who had left the bag or when. Unable to find the owner, authorities asked for a bomb dog from the State Police to come to the scene. The threat level was raised because of the time the bag had been left and that the luggage was near a hotel and a restaurant, police said.
Police said vehicular and pedestrian traffic to that part of town was stopped around 6:18 p.m. A bomb squad got to the scene around 7:02 p.m., and based on a visual inspection from a distance, a full evacuation of the hotel and other businssess in the area was ordered.
It was not immediately known how many people had to be moved, but police said it was “orderly and calm and completed by 7:30 p.m.” Nassau Inn general manager Lori Rabon estimated there were 200 to 250 people in the hotel and Yankee Doodle Tap Room at the time.
Authorities said the bag was “deemed safe” at 8:22 p.m., as people were allowed back into the area. Capt. Nicholas K. Sutter said Monday that a check of the hotel guest list found that the bag belonged to a patron of the Inn.
Friday’s incident came on the heels of the bomb threat against Princeton University Tuesday.