It's difficult to think the Boston police can suggest with a straight face that passers-by might mistake a guy dangling speaker wire from his fingertips for having an explosive device - but that's precisely what they did with 21-year-old Joe Previtera.

The Boston College student tried to send a message to enlisters by standing on a milk crate beside the entrance of an area Army Recruiting Office wearing a black shawl, black hood and aforementioned wires in emulation of the Abu Ghraib Iraqi torture photo.

Shortly after Previtera ignored a recruitment office employee's request to shove off, the bomb squad showed up and roped off the area. Previtera was taken into custody and charged with disturbing the peace, false report of location of explosives and possession of a hoax device. Previtera had never mentioned a bomb or explosives, and the wires were quite clearly attached to the ends of his non-weaponized fingers. A Boston Police spokesman insists the charges aren't absurd.

» Scott Saxon