'I Heart NY' Bags Get Designer Arrested

Takeshi Miyakawa's illuminated bags mistaken for bombs
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted May 21, 2012 10:37 AM CDT
'I Heart NY' Bags Get Designer Arrested
A bag bearing the 'I Love New York' logo is displayed at a store in Times Square on May 10, 2010 in New York City.   (Getty Images)

A Brooklyn designer's tribute to New York City went awry—and got him arrested for planting fake bombs early Saturday. Takeshi Miyakawa, 50, intended to place illuminated "I Heart NY" shopping bags around the city as part of NY Design Week. Instead, police were called about a suspicious package hanging from a tree; the bomb squad evacuated the area and investigated for two hours. The next day, police say they caught Miyakawa installing one of his LED-lit bags on a lamppost.

"He wanted to promote a positive message," a friend tells the New York Times. "He wasn't trying to scare anyone." But the bags, described by the complaint as devices "consisting of a plastic box containing wires which was connected by a wire to a plastic bag containing a battery suspended from a metal rod," apparently did scare people. Miyakawa was arraigned yesterday and ordered held for one month to undergo a mental evaluation, the New York Post reports. His lawyer plans to seek his release. (More weird crimes stories.)

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