LAX Bomb Squad

Thanks for checkin' out Bsombin'! I might have said it before. But, for someone who doesn't travel much, I spend a lot of time at LAX. With most of my family living in other states and countries, there's always someone flying in to visit or going to visit the family elsewhere. On my most recent trip to the airport, it was my youngest sister who needed to be dropped off. My mom also wanted to go. When we got there, mom decided to go in with my sister to make sure her luggage wasn't over the weight limit. It was late at night (on a week day) when we got there, so the airport was empty. While they were inside checking in my sister's luggage, I waited outside in the car, since the loading zone was empty. I had my camera with me and it was taking a while for my sister to check in. So, I decided to get out of the car and take a few pictures while I waited. I walked about 20 yards away from the car, to get a better shot of the Bradley terminal, while I was shooting. To my surprise, that set off alarms with the airport police and the bomb squad. To them, it looked like I abandoned a car in front of a terminal, since they couldn't see me shooting in the shadows. Within minutes, I had a squad car pull up behind our car. Before I could turn to address the cops in the squad car, a bomb squad truck with a K9 office pulled up. The bomb squad office quickly got out and asked me what I was doing as he let the K9 officer out of the back. I told him that I was just taking some pics while I waited for my mom. He laughed and said, "You can't just leave your car unmanned like that." He explained why it looked suspicious and politely asked me to wait by the car. The other officers walked up behind me, while the bomb squad spoke to me, and surrounded me. Once the bomb squad officer said it was okay, the other officers walked me into the terminal to find my mom. They saw that my mom is handicapped and were nice enough to let me stay parked in the loading zone while my sister finished checking in. They even let me keep shooting and stayed to talk to me about photography. They also let me play with Bailey (the K9 officer) and take his picture. I thought it was funny how they called the bomb squad on Bsomb. Fortunately, all the officers were very cool and it was a fun encounter with the LAPD and the bomb squad.  ...Can't say I've had too many of those. But you can't let one bad apple (or cop) spoil the bunch. And that experience goes to show why you shouldn't. I was able to get some shots worth sharing, before I had to leave. And, on the way home, I also shot some moving long exposure shots...

I hope you liked the pics! Thanks again for checkin' out Bsombin'! Check back soon for more photos, art, poems, stories, and more!