By JOSEPH KELLARD
“I don’t know what time the second call came in, or the length of time between the two calls,” Theofan said, “but the next call, the same person, indicated there were bombs on the Long Beach Bridge.”
Police closed both the bridge and the Long Island Rail Road bridge that spans Reynolds Channel between Long Beach and Island Park. The Nassau County Bomb Squad, including a dive team, inspected the Long Beach Bridge, and it was reopened at 9:10, a little over an hour after the railroad bridge was back in operation.
“I understand they did a very thorough search, even going down into the water to search,” Theofan said.
He added that some city police officers came in hours before their usual shifts to assist with anticipated traffic problems, because commuters leaving the barrier island had to use the Loop Parkway in Point Lookout or the Atlantic Beach Bridge.
Diane Albergo, a Long Beach resident who takes the 8:09 train from Island Park to Manhattan each weekday, said she was driving to the Island Park station when police told her the bridge was closed. “They told me I had to use a different route,” she said.
Albergo took the Loop Parkway instead, and drove back down to the Island Park train station. “The parking lot is very empty,” she reported by cell phone from the train platform at 9:30. “A bomb going off just seems so highly unlikely, but you never know.”
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.
