HOMELESS N.Y. MAN WANTED BACKPACK, NOT BOMB

The whole incident unfolded Sunday after Ivan White ran into his friend, he said in a phone interview.

His buddy, Lee Parker, is homeless, White said. Parker had a job interview the next day, though, so White had offered to let him stay the night at his New Jersey apartment. That way Parker could get a shower, a shave and a good night’s sleep.

They were watching football, and at halftime, Parker and White decided to dash out and make a quick purchase. White told The Washington Post that they went to buy cigarettes. Parker told other media outlets it was a beer run. Regardless, what matters is what they discovered.

“So Lee had been saying how he needed a backpack,” White said. “All evening long, he kept saying, ‘I need a backpack, I need a backpack.’ ”

And as they were walking down the street, that’s what they spotted — a backpack on top of a garbage can.

Parker grabbed the backpack, said White, but mentioned that it was kind of heavy.

“He goes, ‘What do you think this is?’ So I looked inside — by this time we’re walking with the backpack, he and I together, OK? And I said, ‘We need to put this down and go to the police station right now.’ ” Parker asked why. “I said, ‘because this is a bomb,’ ” White said. “He looked at me, he said, ‘Get the hell outta here.’ ”

The object in the pack — which was discovered near a train station in Elizabeth, N.J. — was an explosive device. The pair’s discovery, which is credited with saving lives, followed last Saturday’s bombings in Manhattan and a blast in Seaside Park, N.J.