Dzhokhar: The Teflon Bomber by M. Baker
May 20 2014
The Video is incontrovertible evidence--it's just the details that are sketchy
On March 23, 2014 CBS’s 60 Minutes aired Manhunt: Inside the Boston Marathon Bombing Investigation. Narrated by veteran journalist and anchor Scott Pelley, viewers heard first-hand how the FBI found the Tsarnaev brothers.
But apparently no one at 60 Minutes bothers to fact check anything anymore.
During the program, Scott Pelley tells viewers,
“In the video, the backpack explodes 20 seconds after the man in the white hat walks away.”
Sounds reasonable, but Mr. Pelley’s information is wrong. News outlets and spectator videos of both events (here’s one)
(and a second one) confirms the elapsed time between the two explosions to be no more than 11 seconds.
By doubling the time between the two blasts, CBS’s viewers are left with the impression the clever bomber gave himself a comfortable margin of error to make his escape from the deadly blast. Which just wasn’t true, but Mr. Pelley's error placed him in good company. The former Boston FBI Regional head, Special Agent in Charge Rick DesLauriers, earlier mistakenly timed the interlude between the blasts as “…walking away from the scene of the explosion 15 seconds or so before the second bomb went off.” (01)
A difference of 6 or 7 seconds isn’t much under normal circumstances. But here, the government’s case appears to hinge on the startlingly unusual behavior of the bomber compared to others around him. We learn Suspect No. 2's self-preservation timing decisions triggered the suspicions of the FBI investigative team. And it is on ‘Manhunt’ viewers are treated to the appearance of retired former FBI Executive Assistant Director (EAD) Stephanie Douglas. She is revealed to have been former SA in Charge DesLauriers' Washington connection.
More significant than that weighty role, she was also briefly the EAD of the FBI's National Security Branch. (02) The NSB's role is to protect the U.S. from all terror-related activities. It houses the Terrorist Screening Database-TSDB, which maintains all information on known or suspected terrorists. In other words, wouldn't Ms. Douglas's agency have had the background information collected in 2011 by the FBI agent on Suspect No. 1 'Black Hat' the elder Tsarnaev right at her fingertips? Evidently not. Because the FBI focused solely on the video from the Forum Restaurant, watching it "hundreds and hundreds of times" to catch a glimpse of the backpack being shrugged to the ground by 'White hat--Suspect No. 2.' (Perhaps there was no available video taken of the Marathon finish line that day for the investigative team to obsessively watch to catch 'Black Hat' setting down his bag?)
So, taking her cue from the language in FBI Agent Daniel Genck’s Criminal Complaint, Director Douglas dutifully parrots the FBI’s story on the identification of the unknown teen bomber, “Suspect No.2.”
“He puts the backpack down very nonchalantly. He joins the crowd. You clearly see everybody look very, very definitely to the left like they've heard something. They've seen something. So you know that first blast has gone off. He does not do that. He does not do what everybody else in that video does, he does not turn to his left. He instead just stands there for a second or two and walks very deliberately back the same direction that he came in.” (03)
"Parrot" because Agent Genck in the Criminal Complaint (04) had described the scene thusly:
“A few seconds after he (Dzhokhar Tsarnaev) finishes the call, the large crowd of people around him can be seen reacting to the first explosion. Virtually every head turns to the East (toward the finish line) and stares in that direction in bewilderment and alarm. Bomber Two, virtually alone among the individuals in front of the restaurant, appears calm. He glances to the East and then calmly but rapidly begins moving to the West, away from the direction of the finish line.
Approximately 10 seconds later, an explosion occurs in the location where Bomber Two had placed his knapsack.”
More significant than that weighty role, she was also briefly the EAD of the FBI's National Security Branch. (02) The NSB's role is to protect the U.S. from all terror-related activities. It houses the Terrorist Screening Database-TSDB, which maintains all information on known or suspected terrorists. In other words, wouldn't Ms. Douglas's agency have had the background information collected in 2011 by the FBI agent on Suspect No. 1 'Black Hat' the elder Tsarnaev right at her fingertips? Evidently not. Because the FBI focused solely on the video from the Forum Restaurant, watching it "hundreds and hundreds of times" to catch a glimpse of the backpack being shrugged to the ground by 'White hat--Suspect No. 2.' (Perhaps there was no available video taken of the Marathon finish line that day for the investigative team to obsessively watch to catch 'Black Hat' setting down his bag?)
So, taking her cue from the language in FBI Agent Daniel Genck’s Criminal Complaint, Director Douglas dutifully parrots the FBI’s story on the identification of the unknown teen bomber, “Suspect No.2.”
“He puts the backpack down very nonchalantly. He joins the crowd. You clearly see everybody look very, very definitely to the left like they've heard something. They've seen something. So you know that first blast has gone off. He does not do that. He does not do what everybody else in that video does, he does not turn to his left. He instead just stands there for a second or two and walks very deliberately back the same direction that he came in.” (03)
"Parrot" because Agent Genck in the Criminal Complaint (04) had described the scene thusly:
“A few seconds after he (Dzhokhar Tsarnaev) finishes the call, the large crowd of people around him can be seen reacting to the first explosion. Virtually every head turns to the East (toward the finish line) and stares in that direction in bewilderment and alarm. Bomber Two, virtually alone among the individuals in front of the restaurant, appears calm. He glances to the East and then calmly but rapidly begins moving to the West, away from the direction of the finish line.
Approximately 10 seconds later, an explosion occurs in the location where Bomber Two had placed his knapsack.”
We may safely conclude, based on these two FBI accounts, the accused Dzhokhar most likely left less than 10 seconds before the second explosion in front of the Forum, walking calmly, rapidly, in the direction of Atlantic Fish.
And the 'Blue Runner' photo (see left) taken of “White Hat” places him at the tree in front of the Forum sidewalk seating, by the green mailbox. We’ve confirmation from 60 Minutes’ Pelley this still photo "shows much the same view" as in the Eureka! video.
Under any scenario—it's a given the bomber intended to get away from the general area before the black bag's contents exploded. And to bolster public confidence the FBI had the right person for the bombing when some alternative media sites suggested otherwise, this 'Blue Runner' image of "White Hat" made its mysterious way into the public discourse to assure us he was doing just that.
But there are problems with the 'clean get away' scenario.
And the 'Blue Runner' photo (see left) taken of “White Hat” places him at the tree in front of the Forum sidewalk seating, by the green mailbox. We’ve confirmation from 60 Minutes’ Pelley this still photo "shows much the same view" as in the Eureka! video.
Under any scenario—it's a given the bomber intended to get away from the general area before the black bag's contents exploded. And to bolster public confidence the FBI had the right person for the bombing when some alternative media sites suggested otherwise, this 'Blue Runner' image of "White Hat" made its mysterious way into the public discourse to assure us he was doing just that.
But there are problems with the 'clean get away' scenario.
:09 Seconds of Turmoil
Count down :09 seconds on the nearest digital device.
It's the margin of safety the FBI claims the younger brother gave himself to make his escape from the bomb at his feet.
This is what the Atlantic Fish Company sidewalk looked like a few minutes before the first explosion happened up the block in front of Marathon Sports. Pushing rapidly through these throngs would require some "excuse me's" and "sorrys" and patience.
The FBI's agents statements indicate they observed D. Tsarnaev, a slender young man of average height walking calmly and rapidly through this area. Knowing what was coming and counting the seconds in his head, could he have easily threaded his way between the ankle-tripping strollers, the gawkers, the inebriated and countless others to reach a safe distance from the blast's effects? The FBI's assumption is he did. Is that a reasonable assumption?
Because here's a photo taken literally from across the street where he had been stationed in front of Atlantic Fish Company less than 5 minutes earlier. And the path he would have to traverse once he heard the first bomb detonate looks pretty crowded. But while he moved rapidly, we've been assured he was calm about it.
Or at least that's the FBI version of events,
It's the margin of safety the FBI claims the younger brother gave himself to make his escape from the bomb at his feet.
This is what the Atlantic Fish Company sidewalk looked like a few minutes before the first explosion happened up the block in front of Marathon Sports. Pushing rapidly through these throngs would require some "excuse me's" and "sorrys" and patience.
The FBI's agents statements indicate they observed D. Tsarnaev, a slender young man of average height walking calmly and rapidly through this area. Knowing what was coming and counting the seconds in his head, could he have easily threaded his way between the ankle-tripping strollers, the gawkers, the inebriated and countless others to reach a safe distance from the blast's effects? The FBI's assumption is he did. Is that a reasonable assumption?
Because here's a photo taken literally from across the street where he had been stationed in front of Atlantic Fish Company less than 5 minutes earlier. And the path he would have to traverse once he heard the first bomb detonate looks pretty crowded. But while he moved rapidly, we've been assured he was calm about it.
Or at least that's the FBI version of events,
Crowd Reaction to the First Bomb
Whoever is eventually convicted of the bombing, the man seen in the prosecution's Lord & Taylor video had just :09 seconds to safely get free of the shrapnel, the blast wave, the BBs, and the carpenter nails. But the crowd on the sidewalks after the first bombing wasn't reacting as calmly to the first explosion as we've been told "White Hat" did. They could see it, smell it, and discern the human waves of spectators running from the first blast site toward them--and it all spelled immediate danger to them.
The group in front of the Forum, one of several restaurants on the 700 block of Boylston serving the Marathon crowds had immediately become agitated by the unusual post-explosion activity and smoke on the next block. Everyone was in motion to get away or get off the sidewalk to safety.
The Forum Sidewalk Victims remember:
The Richard Family:
Suddenly, in the distance, they heard a deep boom and felt the ground shake. They looked to the left and saw a large plume of smoke rise a block away, near the finish line. ...Someone in the crowd urged everyone to clear the sidewalk. “Get in the street,” the person yelled...the crowds pressed toward the barricades. ...Then they heard a young woman shriek “Oh, my God.” (05)
Roseanne Sdoia:
The first bomb went off…. Some guy next to me yelled the building went down…I stood on a railing to look down and saw the smoke. That gentlemen again was saying “get in the middle of the street.” And there were the barriers.
I just remember everyone trying to get over, get under or get out.” (06)
Heather Abbott:
She was the last of her friends waiting to get into Forum on Boylston Street when she heard the first blast. “I heard a big bang and saw people screaming and panicked...." Abbott saw smoke swirling and people rushing into the bar – but she didn’t make it inside. (07)
Jared Clowery:
First explosion goes off, we look down, see the smoke. I know right away, it’s not a gas leak. I feel the crowd coming down towards us a little bit on the sidewalk. I tell all my friends “let’s go, get in the street.” I got thrown out into the street. (08)
Whoever is eventually convicted of the bombing, the man seen in the prosecution's Lord & Taylor video had just :09 seconds to safely get free of the shrapnel, the blast wave, the BBs, and the carpenter nails. But the crowd on the sidewalks after the first bombing wasn't reacting as calmly to the first explosion as we've been told "White Hat" did. They could see it, smell it, and discern the human waves of spectators running from the first blast site toward them--and it all spelled immediate danger to them.
The group in front of the Forum, one of several restaurants on the 700 block of Boylston serving the Marathon crowds had immediately become agitated by the unusual post-explosion activity and smoke on the next block. Everyone was in motion to get away or get off the sidewalk to safety.
The Forum Sidewalk Victims remember:
The Richard Family:
Suddenly, in the distance, they heard a deep boom and felt the ground shake. They looked to the left and saw a large plume of smoke rise a block away, near the finish line. ...Someone in the crowd urged everyone to clear the sidewalk. “Get in the street,” the person yelled...the crowds pressed toward the barricades. ...Then they heard a young woman shriek “Oh, my God.” (05)
Roseanne Sdoia:
The first bomb went off…. Some guy next to me yelled the building went down…I stood on a railing to look down and saw the smoke. That gentlemen again was saying “get in the middle of the street.” And there were the barriers.
I just remember everyone trying to get over, get under or get out.” (06)
Heather Abbott:
She was the last of her friends waiting to get into Forum on Boylston Street when she heard the first blast. “I heard a big bang and saw people screaming and panicked...." Abbott saw smoke swirling and people rushing into the bar – but she didn’t make it inside. (07)
Jared Clowery:
First explosion goes off, we look down, see the smoke. I know right away, it’s not a gas leak. I feel the crowd coming down towards us a little bit on the sidewalk. I tell all my friends “let’s go, get in the street.” I got thrown out into the street. (08)
Jaymi Cohen:
“Then, the unthinkable happened. Jaymi heard a loud blast to her left and saw smoke. Immediately, she thought about 9/11 and planes crashing into buildings. “We have to get out of here,” she shouted to her teammates and to those standing near her. “We need to run.”
The team took off (running.) Eight seconds later, another bomb exploded behind Jaymi with a noise so loud that she thought she had lost her hearing. (09)
Cohen's injuries might not be familiar, but they were substantial. She reportedly took off running literally one second later than the "White Hat" bomber walking rapidly from the same area she had been standing with her friend and teammate Lindsey Walker . (In the 'Blue Runner' photo, they are between the Forum tree and the green mailbox, just to Sdoia's right.) Nearly 50 dime-size wounds peppered her lower back down her legs to her feet. The backs of her legs were hit by shrapnel but it bounced off. Her legs were bleeding profusely and she too was blown forward by the blast. Walker suffered ear drum damage and was cut by shrapnel. (A third Tufts Lacrosse teammate Kali DiGate was thrown to the ground by the blast with a concussion.)
Against this backdrop of crowd unrest, consider this Google street map. It clocks the distance as 39' between the Forum restaurant and the door to the adjacent restaurant on Boylston, the Atlantic Fish Company (AFC.)
The program calculates walking the distance between the two restaurants' entrances assuming normal conditions. (The program developers did not factor in the conditions on 2013 Marathon Day.) For comparison, this video taken a few minutes before the explosions that day, and further West along Boylston closer to Fairfield, shows a tall individual top of the screen at :032 walking unimpeded behind the crowd at the barricades covering roughly the length of 3 contiguous metal barricades in about nine seconds.
If the Forum bomber had been able to walk unimpeded, that would have put "White Hat'"just at the furthest corner of AFC when the second bomb exploded. But even traversing the complete 39' of sidewalk from the Forum's entrance West to AFC in the time allotted, the bomber would not have been guaranteed an escape from the impact of the blast. (The FBI collected debris, bomb parts, and backpacks over a 12 block area.)
The program calculates walking the distance between the two restaurants' entrances assuming normal conditions. (The program developers did not factor in the conditions on 2013 Marathon Day.) For comparison, this video taken a few minutes before the explosions that day, and further West along Boylston closer to Fairfield, shows a tall individual top of the screen at :032 walking unimpeded behind the crowd at the barricades covering roughly the length of 3 contiguous metal barricades in about nine seconds.
If the Forum bomber had been able to walk unimpeded, that would have put "White Hat'"just at the furthest corner of AFC when the second bomb exploded. But even traversing the complete 39' of sidewalk from the Forum's entrance West to AFC in the time allotted, the bomber would not have been guaranteed an escape from the impact of the blast. (The FBI collected debris, bomb parts, and backpacks over a 12 block area.)
Atlantic Fish Company Sidewalk Victims
Media stories have rightly focused on the victims on the sidewalk in front of the Forum. But there were victims all along that stretch of sidewalk between the Forum Restaurant and the entrance to the Atlantic Fish Company. Here are some of their accounts.
Kellie Marshall:
Marshall was standing on top of a short fence in front of Atlantic Fish Co., one of the restaurants near the finish line, and estimates she was approximately six feet away from the second bomb.
Marshall did not see it blow up; she had her head turned toward where the first bomb exploded when the force of the second explosion threw her about eight feet backward into the concrete wall of the restaurant, knocking her out.
When Marshall regained consciousness, a table was tipped over onto her leg and she was bleeding from her head. (10)
Karen Sciavola:
Scaviola, still recovering at the time from a femoral stress fracture, had to alternate running and walking for most of the course but was determined to jog the final stretch. She was slogging away near the left-hand curb on Boylston Street, ecstatic at having gone the full distance, when a pair of explosions ripped through spectator areas on that side of the course. The second bomb ignited a fireball just a few storefronts (in front of) her, sending shrapnel and debris over her head. (11)
Denise Spenard:
Spenard was watching the race from the outdoor patio at Atlantic Fish.
She was thrown to the ground (by the second explosion’s blast,) then crawled with her friends into the restaurant.
"I felt something hit my side like a stinging burning sensation and then I remember just crawling and scrambling into the Atlantic Fish," Denise said. Denise was told the one inch piece of metal was part of the pressure cooker used to make the bomb. It hurt, but didn't hit any vital organs. That wound is healing, as is the bruise on her arm from when the blast knocked her to the ground. (12)
Collier Clegg:
Another member of the Tufts Lacrosse team present became a bombing victim when she was thrown to the ground by the blast wave from the second bomb. This year, she recreated where she was standing the day of the Marathon bombing, roughly 36' (3 metal street barrier lengths) from the entrance to the Forum Restaurant, on the Western corner of the AFC.
“Everyone just turned to look,” she recalled. “It was so eerie. No one was making any noise. I thought maybe it (the first bomb) was a firework or a cannon.”
A couple of Clegg’s (Tufts) teammates shouted “run” and began trying to get away from the scene, she recalled. That may have saved their lives. The second bomb went off seconds later, about 30 feet from Clegg. Shrapnel from the bomb penetrated the legs of two teammates, Clegg later learned. Two suffered concussions.
“We were all blown to the ground,” Clegg said. “It felt like someone just pushed me hard in the back.”
Clegg felt calm, numb, and unable to get up. There was a loud, low-pitched ringing in her ears. She sat on the ground for a minute, and then crawled into the doorway of a Crate & Barrel store. (13)
Collier was in front of the entrance to the Atlantic Fish Company, roughly 36’ from the tree in front of the Forum where it is alleged Dzhokhar Tsarnaev left the black bag containing the device. She is standing exactly at the location he would have reached, striding “calmly but rapidly” and unimpeded away from Forum beginning :09 seconds prior to the second explosion.
The FBI accounts of the video don't mention this, but clearly "White Hat" would have been blown down like everyone else in the area by the blast wave. Many in the area reported being stunned or knocked out by the force of the explosion. And Dzhokhar would only have made it to where Clegg is standing there by the third tree if the crowds had cleared sufficiently to allow him passage. But as it is possible the crowds were too panicky, people screaming, and pushing toward the street to allow anyone easy movement between the two establishments, he may actually have been blown down much closer to the Forum blast site. He would easily have been exposed to bomb fragments, the BBs that damaged Cohen's backside, and one more very obvious injury virtually everyone near the blast reported.
A couple of Clegg’s (Tufts) teammates shouted “run” and began trying to get away from the scene, she recalled. That may have saved their lives. The second bomb went off seconds later, about 30 feet from Clegg. Shrapnel from the bomb penetrated the legs of two teammates, Clegg later learned. Two suffered concussions.
“We were all blown to the ground,” Clegg said. “It felt like someone just pushed me hard in the back.”
Clegg felt calm, numb, and unable to get up. There was a loud, low-pitched ringing in her ears. She sat on the ground for a minute, and then crawled into the doorway of a Crate & Barrel store. (13)
Collier was in front of the entrance to the Atlantic Fish Company, roughly 36’ from the tree in front of the Forum where it is alleged Dzhokhar Tsarnaev left the black bag containing the device. She is standing exactly at the location he would have reached, striding “calmly but rapidly” and unimpeded away from Forum beginning :09 seconds prior to the second explosion.
The FBI accounts of the video don't mention this, but clearly "White Hat" would have been blown down like everyone else in the area by the blast wave. Many in the area reported being stunned or knocked out by the force of the explosion. And Dzhokhar would only have made it to where Clegg is standing there by the third tree if the crowds had cleared sufficiently to allow him passage. But as it is possible the crowds were too panicky, people screaming, and pushing toward the street to allow anyone easy movement between the two establishments, he may actually have been blown down much closer to the Forum blast site. He would easily have been exposed to bomb fragments, the BBs that damaged Cohen's backside, and one more very obvious injury virtually everyone near the blast reported.
Hearing Losses a Marker of Being Within 100'of Explosion
“The massive blasts near the iconic race's finish line on Monday caused ear drum punctures, ear drum tears and nerve damage in runners and fans more than 100 feet away, hospital staffers and experts told The Boston Globe.” (14)
Dr. Alicia Quesnel, an ear specialist at Mass. Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School, is leading a study following 93 patients who suffered ear injuries in the Marathon blasts. It is one of the few studies to track hearing-related problems in such a large group that was not exposed to military explosions.
“Unfortunately for many of them, even if the hearing has improved, the tinnitus [ringing in the ears] seems to be a persistent problem,” she said.
The sensation — in which a patient hears ringing, hissing, roaring, whistling, chirping, or clicking when no sound is present — is created by the brain in response to ear damage. There is no cure. (15)
Even if Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had been able to walk calmly and rapidly the full 36’ to AFC entrance from the Forum Restaurant sidewalk, by the Tree where the Blue Runner photo purports to show him standing next to the white/black backpack, he would have been well within the geographic area to be exposed to either of the following.
Sound wave causing hearing loss, ringing in the ears, or a ruptured eardrum
Pieces of shrapnel, BBs, carpenter nails, or other flying debris
The blast wave should have knocked him down like everyone else, and possibly knocked him out as it did to spectators in front of the Atlantic Fish Company.
How far did he make it through the panicked sidewalk crowd in those crucial :09 seconds from the time he left Forum Restaurant after the first blast, according to former Exec. Asst. Director Stephanie Douglas? We cannot know this until the trial occurs and the video evidence is revealed.
But whatever the facts, Dzhokhar did not appear to be suffering any ill after-effects in the days immediately following the bombings. Here's confirmation from one of his friends to see him the next day 4/16.
“19-year-old suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev acted as if everything was normal.
The sophomore attended a party Wednesday, two days after Monday’s bombing. He hit the gym. And he went to his dorm room at UMass-Dartmouth for a night’s rest, according to reports.
“He was just relaxed,” a student who claimed to be at the same party Wednesday night as Tsarnaev said.
Andrew Glasby, friend of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev who lived in the same dorm, says he spoke with the alleged bomber a day after Monday’s Boston Marathon attack.
“I thought it was just regular old Jahar,” Glasby said, referring to Tsarnaev’s nickname. “We had a typical conversation, he was not startled, he was not scared, he was not anything. He was just the same old Jahar.”
And Dzhokhar evidently was neither hurt, nor suffering from temporary deafness or hearing problems. Many around him had been seriously, permanently injured, but he was not.
Perhaps he never was in front of the Forum Restaurant, or never left his location at the Western corner of the Atlantic Fish Company patio prior to the blast?
If so, who was ‘White-Hat," that nameless individual who apparently set down his backpack on the sidewalk, purportedly used his cellphone, and left seconds before the second explosion was remotely detonated by person(s) unknown?
NB: Sincere thanks to Wise Owl and Kat for research assistance!
References:
01, 02, 03, 04 Pg5, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
Related posts:
How many holes can you count in the Boston Marathon Bombing Investigation?
THE BLUE RUNNER CHALLENGE
Just how many 'distinctive' bags were at Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's feet?
Yes, Virginia. The Tragedy was REAL Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's injuries: When and how were they caused?
THE BLUE RUNNER CHALLENGE
Just how many 'distinctive' bags were at Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's feet?
Yes, Virginia. The Tragedy was REAL Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's injuries: When and how were they caused?
Recommend this:
VISIT OUR MAIN ARTICLES AND FEATURED STORIES INDEX HERE
Want more? For NIPS, quick takes, and blog posts by the main contributors to this site visit here
________________________________________________
We actively encourage comments, discussion and debate on this site! Please remember to keep it relevant and be respectful at all times.
Want more? For NIPS, quick takes, and blog posts by the main contributors to this site visit here
________________________________________________
We actively encourage comments, discussion and debate on this site! Please remember to keep it relevant and be respectful at all times.