INSIDE SCOOP

Explosive humor leaves some ticked

Want to hear a joke?

What happens when a Laguna Niguel man uses the valet at Costa Mesa’s

Hilton, leaving a gag gift of a bunch of road flares taped together with

an alarm clock attached in the car?

Answer: Bristol Street is closed Thursday night for 90 minutes. The

hotel is partially evacuated and the bomb squad is called out, complete

with the bomb robot and all.

Funny, huh? The police didn’t think so.

Apparently, a 62-year-old man didn’t think twice about the car full of

practical jokes his colleagues had given him the day before when he had

his car parked at the Hilton. When the valet drove off, however, the gift

that looked like a bomb slid from under the seat, police said. Thinking

it was a dangerous explosive, the valet immediately called the police.

The gag gift looked credible even to the trained eye, police said,

because when uniformed officers arrived, they requested backup from the

bomb squad.

No disciplinary action was taken on the owner of the car.

It’s something the police will just have to laugh off.