According to News12 New Jersey, the “grenade” turned out to be a salt-n-pepper shaker.
RIDGEFIELD PARK — An encounter with a man who said someone had broken into his car escalated into a bomb scare that led police to evacuate nearby residents and close Route 46 for hours, authorities said.
The man, whom police did not identify, called Ridgefield Park Police at about 3:10 p.m. to report the alleged break-in, Capt. Dan Hippe told NJ.com.
Police met him at STS Tire on Route 46. After speaking to the man, they saw no evidence of a break-in, Hippe said.
During the conversation, the man became “somewhat uncooperative,” Hippe said, but police agreed to make a report. They learned the man didn’t have a valid driver’s license, so police warned him not to drive away.
Police offered him a ride, but he refused, Hippe said.
About 45 minutes later, another officer passed STS Tire, where the man was still with his car, Hippe said. The man flagged the officer down.
While talking to the officer, the man became “increasingly irrational,” Hippe said. He eventually locked himself in his car and rolled his windows up.
Police tried to talk him out of the car, Hippe said. Feeling that he might have been a danger to himself, police entered the car, took him into custody and transported him to Bergen Regional Medical Center in Paramus.
Meanwhile, an officer noticed a black device that looked like a hand grenade inside the car, Hippe said. “To err on the side of caution,” Hippe said, police closed Route 46, evacuated about 15 nearby homes and called the Bergen County Police Bomb Squad.
The bomb squad determined the “novelty device” was harmless, Hippe said, and police reopened the highway around 10 p.m.
The man is still at Bergen Regional Medical Center as of Monday morning, Hippe said.