Crews Discover Pipe Bombs At Car Crash Site (Pittsburgh, PA)

[Ryan Ruck]

Crews Discover Pipe Bombs At Car Crash Site (Pittsburgh, PA)

Some emergency officials made a dangerous discovery when they were looking at the damage to a 1991 Cadillac on Route 40 at about 3 a.m. Saturday, WTAE Channel 4 Action News reported.

The car had reportedly been in a single-car accident.

Fire officials found a pipe bomb on the ground outside the car, according Lt. Bernard Petrovsky, with the Pennsylvania State Police.

One eyewitness to the accident told police that a passenger in the vehicle ran into the woods with some things in his hands.

After a quick search of the area, police found three more pipe bombs.

"So we have a total of four pipe bombs we've recovered from the scene of this accident," Petrovsky said.

As the bomb squad was called in, the driver of the crashed car, Derrick P. McKulka, 23, was arrested.

"He's going to be charged with possession of weapons of mass destruction, DUI, reckless endangering and risking a catastrophe," Petrovsky said.

Police are investigating as to why McKulka had pipe bombs in his possession, but do not believe that he has any ties to terrorist groups.

"They were functioning pipe bombs," Petrovsky said. "They had the potential of harming someone within a 300-foot radius. They were definitely something very serious."

Due to the threat, police closed Route 40 for several hours as the bomb squad blew up the devices at the scene of the accident.

[Malsua]

Please...300 foot radius on a pipe bomb? Rofl. What were they made of, 10 inch drain pipe?

[Ryan Ruck]

LOL! Same thing I was thinking!

I also got a kick out of this - "He's going to be charged with possession of weapons of mass destruction..."

[Brian Baldwin]

The 300' radius likely has to do with shrapnel. The make up of the bomb could include nails and/or ball bearings making injury at further distance more likely. The concusive energy of the explosion isn't the only thing able to injure an individual. I had been a civil engineer at one time and even took part in an implosion demolition. They, (the demolition crew), were very careful on what was around or near the explosives for just that reason. After all... It's not the powder in a bullet that kills you but the flying chunk of lead.