Suspicious Truck Shuts Down Street

Police shut down a city street for about two hours after a suspicious moving truck was left parked a little too close for comfort to a government agency building.

A security agent at the Mid-Atlantic Social Security Center saw the U-Haul truck parked along Spring Garden Street near 3rd Street in Philadelphia’s Spring Garden section around 3:30 a.m.

The security guard investigated since the truck had been parked since at least 2 a.m. He found that the truck was unlocked and that it had no keys or papers inside, according to Philadelphia Police.

Police closed a multi-block radius around 4 a.m. as the bomb squad was called in since the 18- to 22-foot long truck was parked close to the Social Security Center at 3rd and Spring Garden.

Police told NBC10 that the truck was parked legally along the street but since it had Arizona plates and since there was no way to identify the driver they took extra caution to make sure this wasn't another Oklahoma City situation.

Despite the claim of the truck being legally parked, it still had a parking ticket under the windshield wiper.

Luckily the bomb squad found nothing suspicious inside the truck and by 5:30 a.m. they gave the all clear.

“It has been cleared by the bomb squad,” said police Capt. George Fuchs.

Streets were slowly opened and by 6 a.m. traffic began moving as regular.

Fuchs said police would run plates to find out who rented the truck in hopes they could explain why it was parked near the Social Security building.

This Social Security Office processes checks for eight states. Workers would be able to enter the building close to the normally opening time of 5:45 a.m.

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