New Jersey

Ricer Cooker Found in Chelsea Deemed Harmless: NYPD

A report of the first two items at the Fulton Street station came in around 7:30 a.m. Friday; the all clear was given around 8:20 a.m., which is when the third device was found

What to Know

  • Authorities are looking to question a tall, thin white man seen pushing a shopping cart near the Fulton Street subway station Friday AM
  • Two rice cookers were found in the station, sparking a scare; just after those were deemed safe, a third was found on a Chelsea street
  • No injuries have been reported; the morning commute was heavily disrupted for tens of thousands of subway riders

Following multiple reports of a rice cooker left on a street in Manhattan after midnight Friday, police say the kitchen device was deemed harmless.

A cellphone video posted on Citizen App shows police response to 6th Avenue and 23rd Street in Chelsea as police investigated a rice cooker that had been discarded on the sidewalk.

The incident came after a West Virginia man allegedly placed rice cookers in Manhattan that sparked a rush-hour scare earlier this month.

Larry Griffin, whose father says has an apparent history of criminal activity, was charged with three counts of placing a false bomb in the Aug. 16 incidents.

In September 2016, a man, Ahmad Rahimi, left luggage with two pressure cooker bombs on 23rd and 27th streets in Chelsea. The one on 23rd Street exploded and injured nearly three dozen people, none of them seriously. The device on 27th Street never exploded -- police responded after a woman spotted it and called 911. Rahimi was captured days later after a gun battle with police in Linden, New Jersey. He was sentenced to multiple life terms last year. 

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