‘Suspicious package’ was lawyer’s forgotten briefcase

Update (4 p.m.): An absent-minded attorney was responsible for the “suspicious package” scare that prompted the evacuation of the State Supreme Court buildings on Court Street and Griffing Avenue in downtown Riverhead this afternoon.

A lawyer called Riverhead Police shortly after 3 p.m. to say he had left his briefcase behind while dropping off papers in the special term clerk’s office on the third floor of the building, according to radio reports.

The briefcase was found in one of the buildings at about 1:45 p.m. and the buildings were evacuated. Lawyers, judges, clerks, jurors and others gathered on the sidewalks across from the buildings waiting to return to work as police from the Suffolk County bomb squad investigated with its remote-controlled robot. 

Riverhead Police closed the streets around the courthouse: Court Street between Griffing and Osborn avenues and Griffing Avenue between Court and Second streets were closed to traffic.

Police called off the investigation after they were able to confirm that the suspicious item was in fact the briefcase left behind by the lawyer. People were allowed back inside just before 4 p.m.

Original story (2:20 p.m.): The State Supreme Court buildings on Court Street and Griffing Avenue in downtown Riverhead have been evacuated this afternoon due to the discovery of “a suspicious package” found in one of the buildings at about 1:45 p.m., according to a court officer at the scene.

The Suffolk County Police bomb squad has been called to the scene, the court officer said.

He said he did not know where the package was or what kind of package it was. He was ordered to clear the building, he said.

The officer directed all evacuated people “to go get lunch or something” advising them that the bomb squad had been called.

“Until they give us the all-clear we can’t go back in,” he said. “It’s all standard procedure,” he said.

Riverhead Town Police are also on scene.

Story reported by Peter Blasl.