Fireworks? Or a bomb?
Via NYDN:
An explosion near the site of Elie Wiesel’s funeral Sunday left one man with a severed leg or foot, according to authorities.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the blast — at E. 68th St. and Fifth Ave. — was related to the funeral for the Pulitzer Prize winning Holocaust survivor on E. 62nd St.
Fire officials called it “an amputation incident.”
He was taken to Bellevue Hospital for treatment.
“We don’t know what happened. There was a small explosion, then dust,” said a man, identifying himself as one of the victim’s friends.
An eyewitness told CBS News that the victim was climbing a rock and stepped on something that “exploded.”
?BOMB SQUAD? on the scene in Central Park after man suffers severe leg injury in explosion in #CentralPark.pic.twitter.com/44zNXpr74i
— Boston Bobblehead (@DBloom451) July 3, 2016
WCBS 880’s Hall reported the victim was with a group of three young men from the Washington, D.C., area.
“I don’t know what happened. I don’t know what happened,” one of the men told WCBS 880.
An eyewitness told CBS2 that a man was climbing a rock structure and stepped on something that “exploded.”
The NYPD is investigating what it was that exploded. A bomb-sniffing dog has gone into the rock area.
I checked with CBS reporters and they say the location of the explosion is closer to 62nd (despite NYDN saying it was at 68th), that's why the question related to the funeral. Central Park runs next to 5th Avenue.
Update:
The man who was hurt was Connor Golden, 18, from Fairfax, VA. He was there with two of his friends, Matthew Stabile and Thomas Hinds. The three were visitng NYC for the holiday.
Connor Golden’s friends say they did not have fireworks with them and were climbing rocks when the explosion occurred, WABC-TV reports. Golden stepped on something and a loud bang was then heard.
John Murphy, a witness, told the New York Post he asked Golden’s friends if they had fireworks.
“I said, ‘Come on, guys, were you carrying fireworks?’ And they said no. And I believed them,” Murphy told the Post, adding that he didn’t think it was caused by a normal firecracker. “That was no normal firework. This wasn’t an M80 or a cherry bomb. Some something much more serious. I saw a divot that reminded me of impact craters.”
The blast was heard for several blocks.
“We were climbing down the rocks, Connor was 6 feet behind me and all of sudden I felt the explosion on my back,” one of his friends, Thomas Hinds, told WABC. “The explosion sounded like a gunshot next to my ears. I turned around and saw his foot which wasn’t completely blown off but was severely mutilated. My other friend Matthew was behind Connor and all he saw was massive amount of dirt go flying up in the air.”
Hinds said they were questioned by police.
“This was definitely not a firecracker,” Hinds said. The police were understandably going at us hard asking about firecrackers because the idea that there would be some sort of bomb in Central Park is really scary.
Police said they do not believe it was meant to be an IED. They don't believe the boy was responsible or that he and the friends had fireworks. Police say they are checking for other explosives, and said they have no reason to believe it related to terrorism. One official said he believed it may have been made by a fireworks hobbyist, but they are checking video of the park to determine the cause.
Connor Golden is having surgery at the hospital and is in stable condition.