Suspicious object at side of road turned out to be lightsaber taped to a stick

A person in the Mendenhall Valley neighbourhood of Juneau in Alaska reported an unidentified object on the side of the road as a suspicious device.

The report on Tuesday afternoon prompted a police officer to respond to check it out - he didn’t know what it was, either. Police then dispatched an officer who specializes in Explosive Ordnance Disposal to investigate.



The officer quickly realised that it was a plastic Star Wars lightsaber toy. “It was not explosive in any way,” Juneau Police Department spokeswoman Erann Kalwara said.

The confusion may have been in part because the plastic, expandable lightsaber was taped to a stick and found in the closed position, she said. Kalwara noted the person who reported the device did not call 911 - he or she used the JPD business line.