Bender From 'Futurama' Stops Trains Across Connecticut: Turns Out To Be Middle School Shop Project [PHOTO]

The booze drinking, kleptomaniac robot Bender from "Futurama" has been trying to "kill all humans" for years with little success, his most recent attempt only managed to delay a few trains. Trains in Connecticut were stopped for two hours around the Fairfield Metro North Stop, after a suspicious package was spotted on the tracks, as turns out it was just a middle schooler's shop class project, a wooden clock shaped like the cartoon character Bender from these show "Futurama."

A Department of Public Works employee noticed the item around 5:30 a.m. on a railing of the Unquowa Road bridge. 

Fairfield Lt. told the Daily News, "It had an antenna on top like from a building, and sort of looked like the Empire State Building, People were hesitant to get close to it. To have a facsimile of the Empire State Building on a bridge on a Friday - it could be something sinister."

MTA stopped train traffic through around 6:15 a.m, then sent a police officer and bomb-sniffing dog. The team deemed the box suspicious and called in the Connecticut State Police bomb squad, which arrived around 7:30 a.m. and declared the box safe and empty at 8:15 a.m.

The Bender-like box sat on the bridge abutment since Wednesday afternoon, when a student at nearby Tomlinson Middle School set down the wooden project. The 7th-grader was rearranging his backpack and forgot his shop class creation.

"The student was extremely upset," Perez said. "Nobody wants to believe they can create such a big law enforcement response. The student is not in trouble, there was no ill will or ill intent, and we recognized that. No criminal charges and the parents are also sorry."

The employee did the right thing by following the "see something, say something" protocol all city employees are taught, Perez said. "We never pick convenience over security," Perez said. "We understood it was disruptive for commuters, but the possibility of something going wrong and an explosion taking place superseded, in a big way, convenience."

Tags
Futurama
Bender
connecticut
Join the Discussion

Latest Photo Gallery

Real Time Analytics