Bomb Scare Puts Washington Heights Hospital on Lockdown: Police

Update: Man Arrested for Placing Fake Bomb Near Washington Heights Hospital

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — A bomb scare in Washington Heights forced an area hospital to go on lockdown Monday night, a police spokeswoman told Patch.

The bomb squad was called to investigate a suspicious bag found near the ambulance dock of New York Presbyterian Hospital Columbia on West 168th Street and Broadway, police said. The "bomb" turned out to be five cardboard tubes attached with black tape and topped with a computer board with a digital display, police said. Also in the bag, boxing and pornographic magazines, according to police.

While the bomb squad was investigating the package, the block was put on lockdown, the NYPD spokeswoman told Patch.

The bag was found by a homeless man in the area, police told Patch. Kenneth Jackson stumbled upon the suspicious looking package and thought it resembled dynamite, so he tried alerting nearby officers, he told the Daily News.

Jackson, who lives in the nearby Fort Washington Shelter, told the Daily News he was ignored and laughed at by two officers before successfully flagging down another patrol.

"I said, 'Are you a real New York police officer?' He said, 'Yes, I am.' I said, 'Let me show you a bomb,'" Jackson told the Daily News.

A police spokeswoman could not confirm whether officers ignored Jackson's attempt to call their attention to the package.

Photo: Patch