INDIANAPOLIS – Indianapolis' parks department is concerned after a dangerous booby trap was found along a city trail.
The trail, just off the northern side of Pleasant Run Trail on the city’s east side, is used by runners, bikers and high school kids.
But strung across the middle of the trail at neck-height was a thick metal cable, police believe was purposely put there as a booby trap.
"It's very alarming it could be potentially catastrophic, I mean there could be serious injuries if someone hits that at a high rate of speed," Indiana State Police Sgt. John Perrine said as he looked at the photo.
Word of the booby trap first showed up on the social media site Reddit on Tuesday, and a concerned viewer sent it to RTV6.
We reached out to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and different city agencies, but they said they had no reports of it.
Call 6 Investigates went out to the trail - about a half-mile down - and quickly found a steel cable off to the side.
We reached out to Indy Parks and sent them pictures and our location, and a short time later a number of their trucks were pulled up to the entrance of the trail to take care of the issue.
We took the Indy Parks crews back along the trail and showed them the cable, and they quickly grabbed bolt cutters and cut it down and out of the tree where it had was rigged.
Indy Parks says intentionally set booby traps like this are extremely rare, but finding this cable set up like it was is concerning.
"We're grateful that was able to be cut down and get our crew out here. We want to make sure safety is our top priority along the trails and in our parks,” Indy Parks Chief Communication Officer Ronnetta Spalding said.
It may be rare here in Indianapolis, but booby traps along trails are much more common in the western half of the United States.
RTV6 sister station, Denver 7, has done a number of stories about fishing lines, ropes and wires being strung across trails to catch unsuspecting bikers and runners.
And this isn't the first time it's happened in Indianapolis. Back in 2014, out at Southwestway Park along the trails used by mountain bikers and runners, fishing line was found tied across the trail at ankle height, creating a potentially dangerous situation for another who didn’t spot it soon enough.
Indy Parks said no one reported this incident to their department, but they say they do take situations like this seriously and they will immediately dispatch crews to resolve the problem.
If you do notice a potentially dangerous situation along a trail in Indianapolis, Indy Parks suggests calling the Mayor’s Action Line at 317-327-4MAC or the Indy Parks customer service line at 317-327-PARK. In true emergencies, call 911.
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