[url]http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/04/11/shoe.scare.ap/index.html[/url]

April 11, 2002 Posted: 3:19 AM EDT (0719 GMT)

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- A man was detained briefly Wednesday at the San Francisco airport after batteries and wires were spotted in his shoes.

The shoes were blown up by police, even after it was determined they were not dangerous and contained no explosives. The shoes apparently were designed to heat up and keep the wearer's feet warm, said airport spokesman Ron Wilson.

The man had arrived as part of a tour from Shanghai to New York.

The suspicious shoes were spotted in his carry-on luggage as he tried to pass through a gate in a United Airlines terminal to catch a connecting flight, Wilson said.

Wilson said the man speaks little English and could not explain what the shoes were for or how to disconnect the batteries.

Police took the shoes to an isolated area to examine them, he said.

Wilson said a preliminary background check of the man turned up nothing suspicious. The man's name was not released.

The area around the gate was cleared while the shoes were moved, but airport operations were back to normal by mid-morning.

Airports have been on guard against the possibility of a shoe bomb after an alleged al Qaeda-trained man was arrested in December on suspicion of trying to blow up a trans-Atlantic jetliner with explosives hidden in his sneakers.

"The shoes were blown up by police, even [i]after it was determined they were not dangerous[/i]."  What kind of logic is that?  Were the LEO's just that stupid or did they just want to blow something up?  The man was a guest in our country, and spent his money in NYC, a place that needs the tourism business at this time.  We thank him by harassing him at an airport and by blowing-up his property.z

See, this is exactly why I don't fly. Fuck terrorists, I'm no more scared of them than I was Sept. 10th....
You pay $600 for shit ass crowded seats and spend 9 hours waiting in fraking line. Then some jackass detains you and blows up your shoes. If I wanted this kind of treatment I could get it at madame cheskas house of pain for a sixth of the price. If the gov. just minded their own and we had been allowed to pack heat in the first place this whole fraking thing would be a non issue!

I saw the exploded shoe on the news yesterday.  Looked like a 12-gauge slug tore right through it.  The battery pack was still intact.  What the hell did they blow it up with, a squib?  I think they shot it instead.

The way I see it, someone owes the man replacement cost for a new pair of heated shoes.  Man, first they bomb the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, now they're blowing up Chicom citizens shoes.[whacko]

The government is here to help you.....

{more info needed [;)] }