Courthouse bomb scare delays Vioxx trial

A high-profile drug liability trial was delayed briefly Wednesday when a device believed to be used in bomb detection training was discovered in the courthouse, authorities said.
Authorities evacuated the Atlantic County Civil Courthouse, where two men's case against Merck & Co. over its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx is in its third week, at about 8:06 a.m. after a sheriff's deputy discovered it in the drawer of a first-floor office, said Atlantic County Undersheriff John Tuohy.
About 100 people poured into the street as bomb technicians, police and firefighters responded, said Lt. Michael Tullio, a spokesman for the city police.
The device looked like a pipe bomb, with nails, wires, a battery and electrical tape wrapped around it, according to a courthouse employee who saw it but declined to give his name.
"It looked real, put it to you that way," said Tuohy. "Could it have been live? I don't know."
Tullio said the device was apparently left behind after a training exercise, although neither Tuohy nor Tullio knew how long ago that may have been.
Tuohy said it has been at least four years since such an exercise was held in the building because of more sophisticated screening equipment at the entrances.
"They believe it was a training aid that was secured and forgotten about and then found, and because nobody knew when and there's this national trial going on, they decided to err on the side of caution," said Tullio.
The three-story building, located two blocks from the famed Atlantic City Boardwalk, was declared safe about 9:40 a.m. and workers were allowed back in then.
The Vioxx trial, which had been scheduled to begin about 9:30 a.m., resumed about 10:20 a.m.