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YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A tightly wrapped bundle of bricks meant as a memorial to a U.S. serviceman but discarded by its creator forced a brief evacuation and Bergen County Sheriff’s bomb squad response after it was discovered in a Bogota backyard this afternoon.
Sergio Mendez of Hackensack (above), a U.S. Army reservist from Hackensack, created the tribute while living in Bogota as a symbol of “carrying the weight on his back” in memory of Emory Turpin (inset), a 23-year-old U.S. Naval petty officer from Dahlonega, Georgia, who drowned off the coast of Africa on Nov. 20, 2005 during Operation Enduring Freedom.
It consists of four bricks tightly bound in red duct tape and bubble wrap.
Mendez told police he threw the package away when he moved the Hackensack, but Sgt. Geoffrey Cole told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this afternoon that someone “maybe found it and thought it wasn’t supposed to be discarded and removed it [from the trash].”
The Turpin bricks (IMAGES: Courtesy BOGOTA PD)
Police were called after a worker at Purich Inc., which specialize in sunroofs and automotive interiors, found the suspicious package this morning in an area between the back of the business and the building where Mendez once lived.
“It was all wrapped together in one tight package, with Turpin’s name written in magic marker on the box,” Cole said.
Not wanting to take any chances, borough police evacuated a two-square-block area of mostly residences and called the sheriff’s office, which sent the bomb squad. Emergency management officials were notified, as well.
Fortunately, Mendez put his name and information on the box, as well.
“It was a little bit of a scare for some people at first based solely on the looks of it,” Cole said. “But it was handled quickly and effectively.
Mendez, he added, was very sincere about “wanting to do something good.”
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