Tuesday, a chambermaid was hospitalized after coming into touch with an unidentified white substance in a hotel room in midtown Manhattan, according to officials.
The lady was cleaning a room at the Park Hyatt Hotel on West 57th Street at 1:20 p.m. when she spotted a “white powdery substance” near the bathroom sink and began to feel dizzy and sick.
The FDNY responded and swabbed the room’s surfaces. James McCarthy, assistant chief of the NYPD, stated during a news conference that testing of the gathered samples revealed a probable trace of an explosive material.
McCarthy stated that the NYPD bomb squad and FBI rushed to the hotel, evacuated the whole eleventh floor as a precaution, and gathered their own samples from the room.
McCarthy stated that their testing discovered no indication of a potentially harmful substance and that investigators think the FDNY’s original test was a false positive.
The woman was cleaning a hotel room when she discovered the powdered material and became disoriented, according to authorities.
Daniel McKnight
According to reports, police later Tuesday night arrested a guy they suspect is responsible for the mystery substance.
McCarthy stated that the suspect, who has 16 past convictions for misdemeanors, slipped into the hotel room after a family had checked out early Sunday morning and stayed overnight.
It is thought that the man picked up the room key card that a family member had dropped. He entered the room around 8:30 p.m. using his key card. Sunday and 10:30 a.m. the next morning, McCarthy said.
The suspected suspect has a history of hotel intrusions, he noted.
According to police, there is no threat to the public.
McCarthy stated on Tuesday evening, “I want to emphasize to all New Yorkers and tourists that there is no serious threat against the city at this moment.”
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