Hot Tip: Keep your hilarious airport bomb jokes at home. Otherwise you might pay dearly for them. Like $89,172.53 kind of dearly.
How did a harmless, but poorly timed bomb joke land Dr. Manuel Alvarado in hot water and make him $89,172.53 poorer, you ask? Simple. He made his ill-fated joke to a ticket agent at Miami International Airport.
According to The Miami Herald:
Dr. Manuel Alvarado has agreed to pay a whopping $89,172.53 after an ill-advised bomb joke sparked a massive police response and shut down two concourses two months ago.
Back on Oct. 22, the 60-year-old surgeon was flying to Bogota, Colombia, when an Avianca ticket agent asked the perfunctory question: Do you have any explosives in your luggage? He replied “C-4.” The agent asked if that was a gun. Alvarado explained it was an explosive. The agent quickly summoned Miami-Dade police. Thousands of passengers were delayed as Alvarado pleaded that he had just made a joke. Police arrested Alvarado, who lives and works in Venezuela.
Goddammit, people can be so fucking stupid. HOW CAN PEOPLE BE THIS FUCKING STUPID? In Alvarado’s case, his attorney claims he was stupid because he was “sleep deprived.” I hope the judge forced his attorney to pay an additional $89,000 for that explanation alone.