Police raid NYC apartment over fake bomb prop from play

NEW YORK, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- A New York City playwright said he was embarrassed when a bomb squad raided his building after a prop suicide-bomb belt he threw away was found in the trash.

Ethan Fishbane, 23, had thrown the prop away in the trash Tuesday while cleaning up his apartment on Bedford Street before moving, The New York Post reported Saturday.

"I didn't think twice about it, because, literally, it's two blocks of clay . . . a calculator that's cut in half, and some wires from a Gameboy. It's stupid stuff. And the belt was actually like a workout belt, something I got at a Sports Authority," he told the Post.

His super noticed the prop in the garbage bin the next night and notified authorities.

The New York Police Department's Bomb Squad, Emergency Service Unit and Sixth Precinct, as well as detectives from all over south Manhattan responded to the scene.

"Detectives and police were covering Bedford Street," Fishbane said. "They were cutting open garbage bags. The whole street was kind of littered."

"They came to knock on my door," he added. "At first, I didn't know what they were talking about. [But then] I was like, 'Oh, my God! I think that's my prop. I think that's mine.' "

Fishbane said he doesn't plan to write any more plays about terrorists or bombs anytime soon.