Suspicious downtown suitcase contained clothes

Spokane police and the bomb squad investigated a suspicious package found this morning on a sidewalk near the Maple Street Bridge and Spokane’s historic Carnegie Library. Members of the Explosive Device Unit were called to the area to check out a black suitcase left upright on the concrete at the southwest corner of Sprague Avenue and Cedar Street shortly before 7:30 a.m. A preliminary electronic scan indicated the suitcase was not a bomb, said Officer Jennifer DeRuwe, police spokeswoman. The case turned out to contain clothing, she said. In a press release late this morning, DeRuwe said, “Based on recent events, our community has been in a heightened sense of awareness. Police continue to encourage citizens to report anything out of the ordinary for it is always better to error on the side of caution.” Police had closed several streets around the scene: Cedar from Sprague to First; Sprague from Adams to the Maple Street Bridge overpass; and a portion of Riverside east of where the item was found. Spokane Transit Authority buses were detoured around the scene.