Radioactive Man Pulled Over, Railcars set off radiation detectors---Radioactive man pulled over by police, Mike Apatow, a firefighter in Milford, Conn., unwittingly proved how strong his local police officers' car-mounted radiation detectors are when he set one off by driving by it in his car.It seems that a recent medical procedure targeting his high blood pressure had left him slightly radioactive, and the officer's device picked up the signal quite easily Mike Apatow was minding his own business Wednesday, driving to an appointment for work in Washington Depot when a state police car appeared suddenly and signaled for the Milford resident to pull over.
Apatow, 42, was entering Interstate 84 in Newtown when the cruiser appeared, and he had no idea what he'd done to merit police attention. It turns out he didn't do anything.
But earlier that day, Apatow, who'd experienced a recent spike in his blood pressure, had a nuclear stress test at Cardiology Associates of Fairfield County in Trumbull. In the test, a small amount of a radioactive material is injected into the veins and used to help track blood flow to the heart.
Though the amount of radioactive material used in the test is relatively low -- equal to a few X-rays or a diagnostic CT scan -- it was enough to set off a radioactivity detector in the state police car. The detectors are used to help identify potential terror threats.
"I asked the officer `What seems to be the problem?' " Apatow said. "He said `You've been flagged as a radioactive car.' "
Apatow's doctor had given him a document attesting that he'd had a medical procedure involving a small amount of radioactive material that he handed to the officer. A Stratford firefighter, Apatow was more curious than annoyed by the incident.
"I had no idea the police even had devices like that," he said. "I imagined it being like a cartoon -- like I'm driving down the street and my car was glowing."
State Police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance confirmed that many of the state police cars have the radioactivity detectors. "It's part of our homeland security operations here," Vance said. "It's just another layer of public safety that we have in this state."
Though the goal of the detectors is to alert police to motorists who might be carrying hazardous materials, cases like Apatow's happen from time to time.
"They're very sensitive," Vance said of the detectors.
Apatow had the stress test after feeling ill while working at the Fire Department. He took his blood pressure and found it was 180 over 110 -- much higher than the 120 over 70 reading he usually gets. He attributed the spike to a variety of potential factors, including a lack of sleep. On Thursday, after visiting his doctors again, he was cleared for duty.
Dr. Gilead Lancaster, president of the Connecticut chapter of the American College of Cardiologists, said Apatow's experience with the stress test isn't as rare as some might think. Lancaster, also director of non-invasive cardiology at Bridgeport Hospital, said a colleague knew of an incident in which a patient was traveling by plane the day after a stress test and set off alarms in the airport. "It's definitely known that this happens, and we do let patients know that there is a chance that they could be picked up," he said.
He said patients are also often told to avoid close contact with family immediately following the stress test.
Apatow said his doctors told him not to go within 10 feet of his infant son within 24 hours of the test. Despite this, Lancaster said the amount of radioactive material used in the stress is unlikely to be harmful to the patient. "Any amount of radiation is harmful, but nobody has yet shown that this level of radiation has been of significant harm, especially to adults," he said.
Dr. Lawrence Schek, chief medical officer and chairman of cardiology at St. Vincent's Medical Center in Bridgeport, said facilities that perform these tests have to be certified and are meticulous about safety.
Are we safer or simply under more scrutiny by our government when we can be pulled over for being radioactive? One man may have the answer.
Mike Apatow is a firefighter in Stratford, Connecticut and on his way to work after a nuclear stress test, he found out how sensitive the radioactivity detectors carried by the state police are.
Apatow was doing nothing more than entering Interstate 84 when he was pulled over and told he was being stopped for being a 'radioactive vehicle'.
The CT Post reported Apatow had been given a stress test which uses a small amount of radioactive material to track blood flow to and through the heart. The amount of radioactive material used in the test is said to be equivalent to the amount in a CT scan or a few x-rays.
"They're very sensitive," stated Lt. J. Paul Vance, the State Police spokesman.
Apatow had the stress test to determine what the reason was for a high blood pressure reading, and was told to stay at least 10 feet from his infant son after the test for 24 hours.
The director of non-invasive cardiology at Bridgeport Hospital Dr. Gilead Lancaster said:
"It's definitely known that this happens, and we do let patients know that there is a chance that they could be picked up,"
Apatow didn't seem to be troubled by being stopped by the State Police quite so much as being curious about it.
"I had no idea the police even had devices like that," he said. "I imagined it being like a cartoon -- like I'm driving down the street and my car was glowing."
The purpose of the radioactivity detectors is, in theory, to maintain a terrorist safe environment for the citizens of the country. The additional scrutiny is however perhaps symptomatic of the increased scrutiny we as citizens of this nation now reside under. It also begs the question of what other forms of scrutiny are being used which have not been widely publicized?
If you're ever driving around after taking a nuclear stress test, like one man in Connecticut was, you better hope your doctor gave you a note, otherwise you're gonna have a hard time explaining to cops why you set off their nuclear detectors. Oh, and did I mention cops have nuclear detectors???
State Police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance confirmed that many of the state police cars have the radioactivity detectors. "It's part of our homeland security operations here," Vance said. "It's just another layer of public safety that we have in this state."
Though the goal of the detectors is to alert police to motorists who might be carrying hazardous materials, cases like Apatow's happen from time to time.
"They're very sensitive," Vance said of the detectors.
The Connecticut post says that the small amount of radioactive material injected into firefighter Mike Apatow was enough to set off the geiger counter in the car of a state trooper, who immediately flagged Apatow down and demanded some answers. Luckily, Apatow's note from the doctor was enough.
As the New Year approaches I suspect that many of us are reflecting on the past 12 months and doing our best to categorize and understand the happenings; some good, some bad, some rather indifferent.
This year was relatively terrible for me as I suffered through the worst personal crisis of my life nearly at the cost of my genuine good health and even healthier sanity. But as someone said a long time ago: what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I believe that and am a living example of it.
This year started off with the terrible news of the double-murder of some acquaintances I had in Texas. Their lives were needlessly ended in a fit of jealousy and rage and in an extremely violent manner on the day after Christmas. And the year ended with the death of a long-time employee who I have known since I was a small boy. He passed away on Christmas day.
All of this sandwiched a tragic breakup of a relationship that I had nurtured for two years which ended with me on the edge of a bed, alone, holding thousands of dollars of precious metals and jewels in my hand as I tried to come to grips with and understand what had just happened. I still have no answer for that and it continues to haunt me, yet less so as time passes.
Looking back on all of the tragedy, stress, and sorrow, I suppose I could still be kicking myself around with the old "why me?" scenario, but I realize that to accept life and living, one is also required to accept death and dying whether in the real form of people that you know leaving this good Earth or in the intangible sense of the death of an important connection with someone. Life has never been fair. There are no referees or rules really. No instant replay except for the one installed in the brain which questions each and every move, manoeuvre, and consequence of life.
Since the dawn of man, he has sought answers to the puzzling questions of life. Many of those questions have been answered, but many remain mysteriously undiscovered and are likely to remain so until Earth tires of our antics and swallows us back up into oblivion. However, to seek the great answers of life is a just pursuit and if it were not for our innate ability to seek the truth around us, we (man) would still be huddling in cold, dark caves wrapped in animal hides and clubbing each other on the head in a moment's fancy
Humankind has a unique emotional trait in the compassion we offer to other humans, even animals, in some cases insects, and even to inanimate objects. This unique identifier is part of what makes the human animal special. When one finds themselves in a state of need, for instance after a death, it doesn't take long for friends, family and community to rally into action.
Through this outpouring of support, love and companionship, the first seeds of recovery are planted within the soul, left to slowly germinate, only to later spring forth with a new focus on life and living. Without this necessary regeneration, life would be a miserable to place to be and would most certainly be far shorter for many of us.
I have much to be grateful for as I experienced this blooming regenerative lifeforce in the last third of 2010. And I can thank all of you and the many kinds words of support I received from friend and stranger alike. Without you, I feel this year would have been a total loss, a sad loss, but through you I am living and thriving and happy.
