Suspicious Vehicle Shuts Park Avenue

MYFOXNY.COM - The NYPD shut down several blocks of Park Avenue in Midtown, Manhattan on Thursday, September 2, 2010, because of a suspicious vehicle.

Notify NYC sent out an alert at 3:55 p.m. that Park Ave. was closed between East 47th and East 57th Streets.

In the 5 p.m. hour police reported that nothing suspicious was found in a black Mercedes and the streets were reopened.

The vehicle had been parked in front of a bank since about 6 a.m. Thursday. The trunk appeared to be weighted down and workers called police as a precaution.

Police say people who reported hearing an explosion were actually hearing the sounds of officers using tools to investigate the car.

Fox 5 News reported that police removed a suitcase from the car. It also reported that a Koran was among the contents inside the car although police did not say that it had any relevance to the investigation. Police said was appeared to be blood in the front seat of the car turned out to be spilled fruit juice.

Police eventually towed the car.

Both directions of Park Ave. were shut until just before 5 p.m. when northbound lanes reopened.  Southbound lanes remained closed for a short time longer.  There were tremendous delays in the area as cars tried to funnel onto side streets.