Substance turns out to be denture powder

Monday, Dec. 20, 2004 | 9:42 a.m.

Suspicious white particles discovered on a CAT bus at 4:45 p.m. Sunday turned forced some patrons of a neighborhood bar to wait for three and a half hours while police officers and a Haz-Mat crew investigated.

The driver of the bus, whom police did not identify, was taken to a local hospital after complaining of feeling ill, Metro Lt. Patrick Neville said.

The driver was expected to make a full recovery.

Passengers on the bus heading southbound on Boulder Highway were evacuated and transferred to another bus.

Then police and a Clark County Fire Department Haz-Mat crew investigated the powder using sophisticated tests new to law enforcement officers, Neville said.

The tests uncovered the truth about the substance: It was denture powder.

With no way to know prior to testing what the powder was, officers took the call as if it could be a hazardous substance.

"I take it seriously," Neville said, after investigators confirmed the substance. "We live in a different world after 9/11. We live in a different time."

The Four-Mile Bar was surrounded with yellow police tape while the powder was tested.

Patrons inside the bar sipped beer, munched on nuts or ate meals during the wait.

"I came down before five to eat dinner," Las Vegas resident Mike Davis said.

"I got inside and then they said nobody was leaving. Strange, strange."

Informed that the powder on the bus was harmless, Davis said, "That's good to know."

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