MIT student apologizes for shirt that led to Logan disturbance
Star Simpson, an MIT student who created an uproar last year when her sweatshirt decorated with circuitry lights was mistaken for a bomb at Logan International Airport, yesterday apologized for the actions that nearly led to her being shot by State Police as a suspected terrorist.
Simpson was placed on pretrial probation on a disorderly person charge in East Boston Municipal Court after Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley's office dropped a charge of possession of a hoax device.
Simpson, 20, was ordered by Judge Paul Mahoney to perform 50 hours of community service with veterans and students and to publicly acknowledge her mistake.
Late yesterday afternoon, Simpson released a statement through her Boston attorney, Thomas E. Dwyer Jr.
"I want to apologize for the results of my conduct on Sept. 21, 2007," Simpson said in the statement. "Although I never intended to act in a disorderly fashion, I now realize that the shirt I created caused alarm and concern at Logan Airport.
"I am appreciative to the Massachusetts State Police for their diligence in protecting our citizens and apologize for the expense that was caused that day," she added.
Dwyer said Simpson, who had to appear in the East Boston courthouse about a half dozen times since her arrest, welcomed an end to the criminal charges against her.
"She's relieved," said Dwyer. "This was a fair result that allowed her to continue with her studies."
Simpson had a device made of a plastic circuit board decorated with green lights attached to the front of her black hooded sweatshirt when she walked up to the information counter in Terminal C at 8 a.m. on Sept. 21 and inquired about an incoming flight, State Police said.
Troopers, with machine guns aimed at Simpson, surrounded her outside the terminal and ordered her to raise her hands.
Massport spokesman Phil Orlandella said Simpson disrupted Logan significantly that day. "She was lucky she didn't get shot," he said. "She created a pretty nasty situation where we actually thought we had a bomb or the possibility of a bomb."
In a statement, Conley's office said prosecutors dropped the hoax bomb charge, in part because Simpson immediately heeded orders from police.
Prosecutors also concluded that there was not enough evidence to convict Simpson of intending to upset the public at Logan Airport, as required under the hoax bomb statute.
Simpson, who was 19 at the time, said she had designed the device with LEDs, light-emitting diodes, as a piece of art and wore it to attract attention at a college career fair. She said she was meeting her boyfriend at the airport.
Dwyer has said Simpson had a First Amendment right to express herself by wearing it, an argument Judge Mahoney rejected earlier this year, leading to yesterday's disposition.
Dwyer said Simpson, from Lahaina, Hawaii, is scheduled to return to MIT this fall for her junior year but will spend the first semester with other MIT students installing an electrical power grid in a Guatemalan village.
"Star Simpson was never guilty of possessing a fake bomb and never had the requisite intent to be found guilty of that crime," Dwyer said in a statement. "It is abundantly clear that the district attorney's office agreed with my opinion." 