MIT student Star Simpson arrested at gunpoint at Logan International Airport
September 21, 2007 | Filed under News
19 year old MIT student Star Simpson was at Logan International Airport wearing a device on her chest that included lights and wires, she approached an airport employee with something that seemed like putty in her hands and walked away after being asked what it was.
Then as Star Simpson left the airport terminal she found herself surrounded by police holding machine guns, they thought that she had a bomb strapped to her body.
Apparently she had approached the airport employee to inquire about an incoming flight from Oakland.
After police seized her they learned that the device was harmless and just a piece of art that Star Simpson wore to stand out on career day, and that’s just what happened.
Although the police were concerned, they just followed protocol’s put in place and it’s a good job they did not have to use deadly force.
Imagine if she did not raise her hands when asked, the putty was apparently just some play dough.
She has since been charged with possessing a hoax device; bail was set at $750 cash and will have to return to court on October 29th.
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What BS….
I could understand if she’d called in a threat or something..
You’d think the police had brains enough to see that it wasn’t intentional (which by definition, a hoax IS) and just give her a stern lecture on how easily she could have been shot as a terrorist.
Instead, they’ll railroad her through a justice system that’s been broken for decades, and she’ll wind up with a criminal record over a non-issue.
Makes you wonder where this country is headed.
ewwww, that guy better not get too close! it might jump right off and Byte him! and where’s all that money that went for all those high tech explosive sniffers?
gone? gone where? probably into some security fools back pockets thats where!
First light brights now this. when will Boston learn.
What a moron. What is with MIT students and primitive circuit design? “I’m cool cause I strap outmoded circuits to myself and think it’s artistic. *snark* *snark* *snark*.
What a bunch of posers.
Use of deadly force on a science project? Yeah, that would’ve been a bad scene.
I don’t think Star should have to pay anything– she was not trying to perpetrate a hoax.
But I guess creativity is generally discouraged in a police state, which is what America has become.
Okay, it’s barely understandable to detain her until they found out what the device was, but to charge her with a “Hoax”??? That’s going too far. Who gets to decide what’s a hoax these days? If I walk in to an airport talking on my cell phone, nobody says a word, yet it has a battery, flashing lights, and more circuitry than this girls sweatshirt.
Now the poor girl has to pay ridiculous legal fees to fight this. I’m not saying it was a smart move, but it certainly wasn’t criminal!
Are you freaking kidding me??? In this day and age, these freaking kids need to get a clue and not be so stupid, oh excuse me, ignorant. What the hell do you think is going to happen to you if you go to an Airport with a bomb looking like device strapped to your chest? A Christmas Tree?!?!? Go to Seattle then! Seriously, these stupid kids need to get a freaking clue and join the real world, instead of causing panic and fear just because they wanted to stand out. Come on, you’re not at the job fair, you’re at an Airport!!!! Use common sense. Make an example out of this stupid student and prosecute her to fullest. She should pat fines and serve community service for being so lame. Through the book at her judge!
What a geek, common sense is not something MIT teaches.
It’s an Airport foolio.
It is very interesting to note that most news sites do not include a picture. When no picture is posted the comments look like ’she is stupid she deserves to get the book thrown at her.’
Where there is a picture the comments look like they do here.
Anyone who can follow a wire can see that the wires go from a battery to lights. And, that there is nothing that looks even remotely explosive. Further, she did not claim it was explosive.
If I was a complete moron with a hint of common sense I would be much more afraid of a laptop computer or any other enclosed electronic device. The circuits in a computer are extremely complicated and could be disguised bomb circuits and a laptop is much larger which would allow more explosives to be put inside.
Star’s device is so innocuous looking simply because it is clearly not explosive. Wires do not explode! LED’s do not explode. Batteries, hmm, they could explode but normally do not and they are allowed on airplanes.
Here “art” is simply a flashing bike light in the shape of a star with the plastic cover removed!
When will we start holding police accountable for inflicting, hmm what is the right word here, on our innocent citizens?
Please - all this sorrowful affection for this girl. You’re telling me that a MIT student (still one of the top computer and engineering schools, right?) wouldn’t “realize” that having circuits attached to your midsection while holding a C4 lookalike in your hand would not be found to be alarming? Those that think it was accidental are naive. I think charges are warranted, and she’s lucky that she’s only being charged with a hoax.
Sounds to me like Star is about as bright as a Black Dwarf… and about as smart as well! How dim must you be to strap on an electronic circuit card with a battery and wires hanging loose while carrying a “putty like substance” and not expect to be questioned? And on top of that to turn and walk away without answering when questioned as to what it is! The chick is a MORON and got exactly what she wanted attention! Poor little idiot I hope she gets the attention of the judge as well and fined the max. And yes she deserves hoax charges if nothing else than for being an idiot. If this is any measure of the mentality of whats being produced in colleges were all doomed.
“Are you freaking kidding me??? In this day and age, these freaking kids need to get a clue and not be so stupid, oh excuse me, ignorant. What the hell do you think is going to happen to you if you go to an Airport with a bomb looking like device strapped to your chest? A Christmas Tree?!?!? Go to Seattle then! Seriously, these stupid kids need to get a freaking clue and join the real world, instead of causing panic and fear just because they wanted to stand out. Come on, you’re not at the job fair, you’re at an Airport!!!! Use common sense. Make an example out of this stupid student and prosecute her to fullest. She should pat fines and serve community service for being so lame. Through the book at her judge!”
you are the most ignorant person there is. ill bet youre the kind of person that believes everything the government tells is the absolute truth. the fact that this poor girl DISPLAYED a rediculously old computer chip. how does that possibly look like a bomb anyway? well, i suppose if i had less than half a brain i can maybe see something that looks like a bomb, over something that a fifth grader would make in tech class. the only panic and fear that gets raised is all the commotion caused by having multiple armored agents with sub-machine guns terrorize this girl.
does not this girl realise she lives in a police state ?My god wearing blinking lights ,why anybody would think its a bomb.Lucky for her she didnt get shot down like the fellow in london who was guilty of being brown !BTW rick she did respond to the original question and said it was an art piece.Do you remember the old twilight zone about maple st ,just flash a few lights and they will do themselfs in from fear.Sounds like today,a country willing to give up all freedom so THEY wont get us.
Whenever someone does something stupid, there’s always a crowd waiting to gather to blame “the man” and defend the innocence of the perpetrator. If she had just a circuit that had a star on it, one could say that perhaps she was too naive to know. (Not that it’s the police’s job to decipher circuit boards to determine their function).
But this girl brought play doh simply because it is similar to plastic explosives.
She needs to be taught a lesson about the real world. I think the police should have at least roughed her up a bit.
This MIT idiot is lucky she didn’t get “Uzitized” with about 6 9 mm rounds in her stupid head. Like Forest Gump said…”stupid is as stupid does.”
serious dumbass….this was an attempt to get attention, plain and simple. This girl is very lucky an overzealous air-cop didn’t kill her on the spot. She knew EXACTLY what sort of reaction her “art” would elicit, and is surely enjoying the infamy she has earned. This stuff is not a joke, and policemen don’t have a sense of humor anyway…show some goddamn sense. I think charging her with a crime is the LEAST of what she deserves, perhaps a visit to Gitmo would convince her that the government is not screwing around when they say “don’t screw around at the airport”. Jesus….
OH give me a break, Chris, Rick and Concerned Citizen (most likely people near each other or the same person by the writing style). If this is any measure of the mentality already working in our society then we have already been doomed. Those shirts are common and can be purchased anywhere, circuit-board inside shirt or outside shirt, it’s clearly not at the midsection, it’s breast high and it is readily apparent that it is not a bomb.
Her intention may have been to produce the exact result she received, but so what, this is coming from a state that the police mobilized massive task forces to fight off the threat of light brites. Another group fallen to the mass hysteria of the propaganda of the day.
“Turn and walk awaay without answering”, Oh yes — I forgot where it mentioned “Rick was in the airport. Like people reporting incidences never exaggerate the story for effect or attention, especially when media is bound to be involved. Give me a break, you lot are about as bright as you consider the girl.
The police did a great job–but–displayed their ignorance when they arrested Star.
This girl is smarter than everyone thinks, but that doesn’t mean she has any common sense, she is just clever and probably politically motivated. She got exactly what she wanted: attention and everyone out there complaining about the “police state”, which is a round about way of saying the way the police acted is Bush’s fault since he has already removed all of our civil liberties anyway, right?
Let’s look at this another way shall we?
Hypothetically, lets say she had a boarding pass and the TSA let her through the security gates, because someone had the “common sense” to know it was just a stupid Transformers tshirt. I can see it now: there she is in terminal B walking around with potential “plastic” explosives in her hand, someone panics and shutsdown the entire airport. She gets blown away by the cops and of course all of this would be captured on a cellphone camera and posted to YouTube as soon as possible, probably labeled “Bush’s Crack Security Force Kills Innocent Playdoh bomber inside Logan”.
Of course, she was too smart to do that, because she knew if she pushed the boundary, it was the end for her.
Give it a rest people, the police did their job, just like they did with Tazer boy. These people know how far they can go and get away with it. A little jail and bail doesn’t bother them one bit if it gets them some air time.
So, If someone wears an art do they automatically becomes a terrorist. Who knows where else you will be targeted now for creative art.
“So, If someone wears an art do they automatically becomes a terrorist. Who knows where else you will be targeted now for creative art.”
Most likely in the unemployment line!
Art? NOT
this girl should be kicked out of MIT and go to jail for 3 years i hate her
I think she should have her head cut off for doing that or at least shot in front of a firing squad.
c’mon… a stupid person saw somethin he/she didn’t understand an decided it was a bomb.
should she have taken her tshirt out to get into the airport? nobody can predict such a display of paranoia and stupidity.
everything is visible, a few leds a battery and a protoboard. but how to expect that somebody that has only studied how to handle a gun knows that. I guess that person would have cut the blue wire…too many films!
Once again our young and upcoming adults show their ignorance to the laws and safety of everyone. She’s lucky to even be alive let alone charged with a crime. Why would anyone dare to do what she did and then have the audacity to say it was art. Do you really believe the responsible citizens of this nation are going to accept this ridiculous excuse? She knew what she was doing and she pushed it to the limits. She got what she deserved.