EDIT: Location is Australia.
To preface, I figure a bit of backstory is required to get relevant replies. Sorry if it seems tedious or longwinded. Cliffs at the end.
A small fire started up in my room last week. A half empty bottle of turps I had used to clean my desk was ignited, probably due to a spark from my
powerboard. I got some burns to my hand and legs(pants were alight.) Lots of excitement etc. from the neighbours when the ambulance/firey's/cops
showed up.
I keep the vast majority of my lab downstairs(room is upstairs) but have a few random chemicals in my room that had not yet been moved. Nothing
particularly reactive, nothing with a particularly 'scary' name, just silica gel, Na2S2O5, etc. in PET bottles.
I was informed by the police that I was a suspect, although were vague when i asked what I was suspected of doing.
They opened a conversation by asking me what explosives I was making, and why I had bomb-making websites open on my laptop( https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/viewthread.php?tid=27... was the page they were referring to.)
I gave a few short answers before the ambo's intervened and gave me a morphine injection and a trip to the hospital. Cops dropped by about an hour
after I got there. I went through what happened then had to patiently explain why NiCl2 does not spontaneously ignite when you add a few zinc
shavings to a dilute solution of it(had done this about an hour before the fire started. It was sitting on the other side of my desk.) Then on to
most of the other chems and how they don't spontaneously ignite when kept in sealed containers next to each other.
I found out they had gotten the forensic chemists(full tyvek suits etc.) to go through both my room, and the lab downstairs the next day. Looking for
god knows what.
When I got back home, I found they'd taken my laptop and about 20ml of an unfinished ethanol/acetic acid esterfication, but obviously had no problem
with my lithium hypochlorite, 15ish grams of Hg(NO3)2, 3kg bag of KNO3, or the bag of very fine mesh Al powder beside the KNO3. Such a display of competency by the forensic chemists was topped off by them
deciding to leave aforementioned Hg(NO3)2 unsealed ans outside its bottle, in the middle of the garage when they left.
They also left a 100ml reagent bottle, and one of those stainless steel spoon things used to scoop out powdered reagents. Those have been added to my
inventory .
The questions I have, and reason for this thread, is if there is any point trying to get in contact with the forensic chemists and asking what the
fuck they were doing? Logically I'd assume this is a screw-up that shouldn't/couldn't be laughed off, given how toxic mercury salts are. However I
have no idea if I'd be taken seriously.
The other people living at this house have very limited knowledge of chemistry, beyond knowing not to touch the white PET bottles I keep reagents
in. They wouldn't be able to identify a white/beige powder in an unsealed sandwich bag as dangerous, and may have handled it etc. if I hadn't been
there when they let us back in to the house.
Also, anyone with experience of possessions being confiscated... Is it particularly difficult getting them returned? I don't even know if I have to
contact them, or if they intend to contact me, to return it.
Cliffs:
-Small fire occurred in my room
-Cops assume bomb-making etc.
-Forensic chemists go through entire house, overlook a bunch of potentially suspect reagents, take some crude ethyl acetate and my laptop. Leave what
I consider to be the most dangerous/toxic reagent I own, mercuric nitrate, unsealed, on my workbench when they left.
-Laptop yet to be returned.
-Scored a scoop and a 100ml reagent bottle.
-Should I make a complaint about them leaving toxic shit unsealed, lying around my house? The others living here wouldn't have a clue what Hg(NO3)2
means, nor the potential danger handling it.
-Should I wait for my laptop to be returned, or ring up/request it be returned? Expected difficulty?
[Edited on 21-12-2013 by Mesa] |