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Subscribe to RSSAn exercise buff caused a ruckus at a San Jose, Calif., post office when he showed up to mail a package donning a mask and a weight-packed vest, gear he says is part of a so-called "CrossFit" workout.
Long Hoang, 29, was at the post office Tuesday simply to mail a package of calendars that had been sent to him by mistake. Struggling to jam the package -- which just barely fit into the mailbox -- down the chute, Hoang had no idea he was the subject of calls to authorities about a suspicious man who ran up to the mailbox wearing what looked like a gas mask and a bulletproof vest. After he managed to get the box down the chute, Hoang jogged away, continuing on with his workout.
A bomb squad and firefighters showed up. Authorities closed down nearby streets, reported CBS 5 in San Francisco. Investigators, using a robot, detonated the box of calendars Hoang had been trying to send to its rightful recipient.
When the story hit local news outlets, Hoang started receiving phone calls, The San Jose Mercury News reported.
"My friends kept messaging me, Is this you? Is this you?" Hoang, a nursing student who lives near the post office, said. He called police Tuesday evening to clear up the confusion.
"The guy said he was wearing a cardio mask," Sgt. Jason Dwyer told The Mercury News. "It was his cardio day, and he was trying to lose weight."
Hoang said he has been following the CrossFit exercise regimen for about there months. The elongated mask he wears over his nose and mouth makes breathing difficult, to simulate high-altitude training; his black vest holds 10 pounds of weights.
The workout is "this really creative combination of weight lifting, gymnastics and rowing," Hoang told The Mercury News. "It was like straight out of a movie ... Some of my friends are telling me, 'Hello? 9/11? Anthrax? Blah. Blah. Blah.' And I'm just thinking about my finals and staying in my own little zone."
Watch an interview with Hoang about the misunderstanding on San Francisco's CBS 5 website.
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You have to admit, based on the way one pronounces his name, this story is pretty funny...
"What's your name?"
"Long Wang."
"Enough of the jokes tough guy. What's your name?"
"Long Wang. No joke!"
*Checks license* "Sorry for the confusing, Mr Wang."
It consoles me that all the people that wet their pants over such a stupid issue ended up paying for this because their own community wasted resources over this.
Rather be safe then sorry. A man in a mask discizing his face wearing what looks like maybe a home made bomb dropping off a package that he jams in that put into context may be a bomb. Yea, lets waste some resources and check it out. Not sure why you don't see that.
"Rather be safe than sorry.." My ass. The terrorists are probably laughing their buts off at us blowing up innocent packages because we're scared silly. I'm just wondering when innocent PEOPLE are going to start suffering because of our FEAR...oh wait..they already are...
The Terrorists HAVE WON....sad...
And brenda1964, please either go back to school and learn to spell or get a spellchecker, thanks! It's "disguising", not "discizing"...
Wow, made one mistake on one word and the spell checkers (hall monitors in school) come out of the wood work. My bad, was tired. Be that as it may, if it had been a bomb, you would be singing a different toon, but thats what I expect from republicans, they change thier minds depending on what they can get away with.
P.S. its Butts not buts, but hey, I try not to be such a ass. So as you suggest, go back to school and learn to spell or get a spellchecker.
All of you need to grow up. I feel like I am back in elementary school. And why would you want to bring politics into this? Guess what democrats do the same stuff. Open your eyes.
We do, but when we do it , it's right.
brenda1964
1. there's another spelling error there
and
2. This government has fabricated and overblown situations to create fear among us for at least the past century. From race (blacks, asians & latinos) in the early 1900s, to the red scare in the 50s-70s and now terrorism. 30 years from now people will be reading about how we got duped into handing over our government more power through this control by fear. This is a cycle that never ends, but the commonality is that since most people are naive and gullible like you, there will be plenty of ways for our government to scare us for further generations to come. Reproduce and keep this cycle alive!
Have a good day full of fear and suspicion!
If you would actually read what you typed, you would realize how foolish you sound.
No political affiliations
LMAO with the spell checkers
brenda1964
LMAO with your backwards beliefs on how we should live in fear
A dude in a mask and vest trying to cram a box into a mailbox? Yeah. I'd have called 911.
EPIC
My favorite was when they "detonated" some poor guys heated jogging shoes because the batteries showed up in an airport x-ray.
Even I'm laughing, but the terrorists are probably rolling over dang near dying laughing....they know they've won...
This means the war on terror is over and we lost!
What about the guy wating for his box of calendars?
Remember the old cop show: "Streets of San Francisco" ? Carl Mulden and Michael Douglas would never have allowed a bunch of calenders to be blown up by an inept bomb squad.
And BTW, San Fransisco cops must really hate the new Hello Kitty calanders. Maybe everyone should send the bomb squad a calender for christmas.
I kinda agree that calling the bomb squad was the right call.
I disagree, at least the CIA should have been called on this one. And the secret service because this may have been sent to the white house.
The fear is no longer primarily in airports
I love this country
It's not fear it's caution. It isn't just terrorists - this world is full of wackos hell bent on some crazy agenda. Your telling me you would have seen a guy in a mask and what looked like an armored vest jaming/forcing a box in a mail slot and woulda just walked away saying to yourself "gee that was odd"? Cmon.
So many times you read about nut jobs who commit some horrible crime, and theres always the same quote from either a neighbor, or a witness, or a relative saying they had a feeling something was off and gee they wish they would have reported it or said something. A little caution has always been a good thing, especially when something seems off. If the headline was "bomb detonates at post office" and the story read the same about some guy in a mask and armored vest jaming a box in a mail slot, who among us would not ask why people who witnessed the guy didn't report it. I mean really people...
I would not have called the police because I myself use a training mask to enhance my cardio, as do many of the people I know that want to reach higher levels of health and well-being. The fact he had a weighted vest on would not have worried me anymore either, as I am well aware of what a weighted vest looks like and can differentiate between a traditional store bought vest and something that may have been made at home or was carrying explosives. I understand that not everyone in the world is interested in pushing themselves to better health or making themselves aware of current health trends, but this does nothing but increase the fear mongering that the local, state and national governments thrive on.
This said, I do not blame the people for calling the police. Police are there to protect and serve the community and in responding and diffusing the situation(along with the fire department), they did their job well. I do believe it was a waste of perfectly good explosives to blow up a box of calendars. There is plenty of technology that would have allowed them to identify what the contents of the box actually were.
Additionally, you are insinuating that "nut jobs" are the only ones that commit heinous crimes or acts of terror. You may want to check your information as many crimes are committed by people that would easily be thought of as "good neighbors" or "normal". The problem is that what is "good" or "normal" is so variable that it is a judgment call made by a single person. If each person called the cops on someone that seemed a bit "off", this country would implode with greater financial difficulties than we currently have.
Dave-2781495
It's nice to see you took a break from watching mainstream news about what we should be scared about to give your 2 cents about this topic.
The threat isn't terrorist attacks, it's in valuing security so much that we threaten our rights and what it truly means to be an American. Fear is a very effective way to control people and if you lived in other countries, you would understand because they all follow the same practice. The only difference is what/who the threat is.
This country is going down a path with a policy based on this fear and I'm scared where we will be as a country in 10 years because of people like you, relinquishing your rights/power to the federal government.
It would be great if there were some safe way to check the package without blowing it up.But that not being the case, better no human life is lost and people joke about things afterwards, then risk any. We live in different times then those of ages past when we could trust our neighbors and take things for granted.With the threat of terrorism so real, perhaps more common sense on the part of citizens and removing masks, which could be mistaken, is called for when delivering packages, or other items in public places. Better for us to all make sure we aren't causing undue suspicious behaviior or concerns. There has already been enough in the news for everyone to realize some forms of clothing and actions can be misunderstood.
Some safe way to check it without blowing it up.... like x-ray, CT Scan, or maybe just OPEN THE PACKAGE ? They have tools now (some are getting to be 50 years old) that have little things called knives attached to really long sticks that can open a package from a distance. I even have seen stories about things called remote controlled robots that can open packages from even further away.
As to you other points, why should anyone have to do anything different than they normally do. The jogger/mailer did nothing wrong. The terrorists have won if we have to do things out of fear.
Picking up the package to have it x-rayed or have it CT scanned isn't possible since those machines are too large to transport to the post office. Neither is opening the package since if it is a bomb, one would be probably detonating it.As far as using a long stick with a knife one would not do that either because if it were to go off, one now has a projectile flying who knows where and depending how much explosives were in the box, the bomb could kill anyone within fifty feet.Since I know someone who works in law enforcement that has friends dealing with such issues, none of your suggestions fly.Even the robot is only used for certain situations because if a bomb goes off, it can be blown apart.A package that has been dropped into a large bin with other packages causes additional problems. Law enforcement asks that people use common sense and no dress in any manner which could cause normal people to be concerned for their safety.Like the man who enters a bank wearing a mask.Sadly, we Americans are on a more alert status concerning our daily safety. We should not live in fear, but do need to realize our actions can be interpreted differently then they used to be years ago because of the more active threats against America in the world. That is simply the reality of life.Just use common sense and realize we live in a global community.
The Salvation Army doesn't have to accept Gays and Lesbians if they don't want to. It's that simple, don't care if anyone likes it or not. That's their right. And, by the way, does anyone remember the article on the Internet the other day about the all gay, ALL gay, baseball team that won't accept straight men on their team but had to take two. HAD to take two. They didn't want to, but HAD to. They even called a meeting of the gays on the team to find out (drill them) what their sexual preferences were to make sure they were gay. They were afraid a straight person was in their group. Funniest article I have ever read. Getting back to this one, if the SA doesn't want to accept them, fine, that's their choice. However, for the gays to make a fuss over this to an organization that helps the poor and needy tells you a lot about the gays. I'd bet they go up to the North Pole every year to see if Santa hires gays as part of his Elves staff. I think the gay community speaks out of both sides of their mouth. God love a duck!