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NYPD Irish cop Wayne Rhatigan hero of Times Square car bomb attempt

Sprang into action to clear area and help bomb squad

JANE WALSHE,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Sunday, May 2, 2010, 7:23 AM

Updated Sunday, May 2, 2010, 5:02 PM

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Times Square

Police Officer Wayne Rhatigan was the hero of New York on Sunday as he sounded the alert about a car bomb in Times Square and managed to clear the area and help have the bomb defused.

Rhatigan, a member of the police’s Emerald Society and a mounted policeman,was called by a t-shirt vendor who saw smoke coming from the back of the car in Times Square.

Rhatigan approached the car, saw the smoke, and immediately reacted.

"I did a lap around the vehicle. The inside was smoking," Rhatigan told the Daily News on Saturday night. "I smelled gunpowder and knew it might blow. I thought it might blow any second."

He grabbed two rookie female cops who were patrolling the area. Together, they managed to get hundreds of people away from the smoking car and to alert the bomb squad.

The Fire Department and bomb squad rushed to the scene.

The car was a running SUV packed with three propane tanks, two red 5-gallon plastic jugs of gasoline, a clock, electrical components and a canister of gunpowder, police said.

"We are very lucky," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at an early morning press conference.

"Thanks to alert New Yorkers and professional police officers we avoided what could have been a very deadly event."

The two rookie cops reported seeing a man running away from the scene as they approached the car.

Police spokesman Paul Browne said cops were checking that a person was seen running away from the car.

"It looks as if the perp was trying to light it up, and was interrupted by the cops, panicked and took off," a law enforcement source told the Daily News.

"It looked like someone tried to detonate it and we got to it in time.

"This is a big deal. It has the makings of a real car bomb."

Nster.com

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Monsoonman | May 05, 2010, 01:18 AM EDT

I have even had comments not published because I had impure thoughts...How did they do that?

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hyattsville | May 04, 2010, 11:45 AM EDT

Completely unrelated but what's up with the spam proliferation on your site and how are the messages getting through? I've had comments not published in the past because of an impure word so am intrigued by all of these handbag flogging messages getting through!

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DennisQ | May 04, 2010, 12:19 AM EDT

This was a prank. If real terrorists were behind it, they wouldn't have set the thing off with a firecracker, and they'd have known it was the wrong kind of nitrate. It only makes sense that they'd practice with the materials they intended to use. The reason that New York has been safe from terrorism is that terrorists aren't interested. If they were, the cops couldn't stop them.

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killowen | May 03, 2010, 03:11 PM EDT

How convenient these bombing attempts - they seem to occur when those Bad Dudes who are displeased with those controlling bankers of our planet come to town. Such scare tactics work well on the masses. I can't wait to learn of the culprit. Still wondering about that fellow who drove through the St. Patrick's Day parade when the IRA guy Flannery was selected as Grand Marshal for that year. A message was sent loud and clear as with the Spartacus chaps who accompanied those souls who protested outside the British Consulate about the Irish hunger strikers in 1981. The sheep bleat and forget.

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mjsgaelach | May 03, 2010, 03:07 PM EDT

Monsoonman: Yes, Officer Rhatigan is a hero because he put on his uniform & went into work. When confronted with this incident, he reacted properly, as any police officer would have. Had this been a shootout or any other life-threatening event, Officer Rhatigan, as well as any other police officer, would have reacted properly. It's just a matter of fate & circumstance that a police officer finds himself or herself in those situations, so the heroism is in the simple act of putting on one's uniform and going into work, knowing that such things probably won't occur but knowing that they might.

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gregoryny | May 03, 2010, 10:45 AM EDT

The HERO is the T-Shirt Vendor who alerted the police If The cop had been doing his job he would have been the one to see the smoking van. the vendor is a Viet Nam Veteran named Lance Orten. which could have been found with a quick Google. By the way Lance Orten is NOT Irish.

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bronxjames | May 03, 2010, 09:58 AM EDT

I think a word about the black gentleman who told the Policeman about the car would be nice or is this just for irish?

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Monsoonman | May 03, 2010, 12:28 AM EDT

hyattsville: My feeling is that the word hero gets dispensed too frequently, especially for those who are paid well and trained well to do their duties. I said it no disrespect, it was a comment on the general use of the term. Perhaps one that sees venom in others is looking in a mirror.

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hyattsville | May 02, 2010, 11:32 PM EDT

Monsoonman what is wrong with you? Obviously Rhatigan did a lot more than just 'put his uniform on'. He thought intelligently and reacted quickly and reacted well sparing God knows how many lives. Your comments are always so negative and venomous. What deed have you have done today to enrich the life of your fellow man?

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jacersisityourself | May 02, 2010, 03:58 PM EDT

Thank God for that being discovered before damage was done! Ask any Nth Irish man or woman around today minus a limb, or in wheelchairs as a result of car bombs in this Emerald Isle. There’s many a New Yorker walking around today when they might not be if this bomb had gone off, including Officer Rhatigan and the t-shirt vendor. Rhatigan's horse was also saved from being splattered horse meat, as the UK’s Horse Guards had to deal with a few years ago. Good on those people for subverting those who would maim and kill.

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Monsoonman | May 02, 2010, 11:22 AM EDT

I don't want to appear disrespectful, but: I read the article and my take from it is that you call the cop a hero because.....he got up that morning and put his uniform on? Is the norm in your world to have run away in terror? Jes sayin'

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