The letter carrier, who wishes not to be identified, called the Carlsbad Police Department after hearing a suspicious ticking noise at 3:20 p.m., according to the department’s public information officer, Jodee Sasway.
The police called in the San Diego County Sheriff’s bomb squad to handle the package.
“It’s typical procedure in an unknown package like that. We call in the experts,” Sasway said.
The bomb squad then arrived at 4:34 p.m. The police notified residents in the surrounding area, although Sasway noted the majority of people weren’t home.
“We just went around the neighborhood and we like people to understand what’s going on so that they can be as safe as possible,” Sasway said. “We notified people who were at home in that area to evacuate or move cars just because we always err on the side of safety and caution for our community.”
The bomb squad then blasted the package open twice with a robotic water cannon. Nobody was injured.
The package turned out to be a battery-operated set of toy jumping beans sent from a New Jersey-based company to be delivered in Carlsbad.
Ricky Vida, postal inspector for the U.S.P.S. said this is not entirely uncommon.
“A lot of times around the holidays these situations occur where the batteries are inside the toy being mailed and for one reason or another the toy starts to make noise,” Vida said.
He had some holiday advice to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
“If you’re going to ship toys through the mail, please do not put the battery inside the toys,” Vida said.
People with questions or concerns can call the United States Postal Inspection Service at (877) 876-2455.
