They'll be hauled back in once someone rereads the report:

"The pipe was approximately 24" long, with a small crack on one side."

A CRACK PIPE? ARREST THAT MAN!

RoyBatty: The best part seems to be that the guy who was charged is the guy who found the pipe and called the cops.

Report a possible bomb, and *you* get charged with disorderly conduct.

Paging CruiserTwelve to defend the cops. Paging CruiserTwelve.

A Salisbury man? They should tie him to a steak...

Came here for René Magritte reference. Thanks to fritopendejo, leaving satisfied.

FTA:
Prosecutors this week dropped a reckless-conduct charge against a Salisbury man after what the police initially described as a powerful pipe bomb at his home turned out to be a "tire thumper" used to check the pressure of truck tires, his lawyer said.

It took them a week to figure this out? Sounds like a police department full of dumbasses.

Assistant Merrimack County Attorney Alexander Gatzoulis, the prosecutor in the case, confirmed yesterday that the charge was dropped but declined to explain why, except that new information came to light.

"New" information?

Salisbury police Chief Frank Jones brought the reckless conduct charge against Scott, writing in a criminal complaint dated May 7...

May 7, got it.

But according to a portion of a state police report, dated June 11 and accompanying a later court filing by Barnes, the device was a PVC pipe, about two-and-a-half feet long, with metal weights inside.

So, Chief Jones filed charges a month before receiving the state police report, that is, the report from the people in possession of *all* the evidence, as to what that evidence actually was.

Gatzoulis said. "But sometimes, new information comes up after the initial date of investigation." And when it does, you wait three months before dropping charges? What did Gatzoulis expect to happen in those three months? A plea bargain?

What a powerful pipe bong might look like:

DigitalCoffee: [...] it contained "no powder or explosive or fuse."

Unless I'm mistaken, a 'pipe bomb' that has no powder or explosive or fuse is just a piece of pipe.

/this is not good news for Joe the Plumber

This actually brings up a subject that really sucks: Constructive possession. You can be charged with constructive possession of a bomb if you have the materials needed to make one, regardless of whether you've actually assembled a bomb or not.

Now, I have a few bits of copper and pvc pipe laying around (mostly for making antennas). I have black powder and black powder substitutes for my muzzleloading guns. I have a drill, wires, batteries, and steel wool. Technically, I probably could be charged with constructive possession of an explosive device without ever taking any steps to actually *BUILD* one.

Scary, huh?

Now consider that just about every home in the US contains enough materials to make a bomb. Things that you wouldn't normally consider to be explosives, like flour or sawdust for example.

Really the only hope you'd have against a malicious prosecutor who wants to nail you because you once parked in his spot would be the jury, and God help you on that one.