A college student was recovering Monday afternoon after losing his foot in an explosion in Central Park.
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Paramedics arrived on scene just minutes after the explosion Sunday and rushed Golden – the University of Miami student visiting NY for the holiday – out of Central Park.
The incident occurred just a day before the American Independence Day holiday on July 4, a time when the city is inundated with tourists from all across the world.
According to the FDNY, a call came in around 10:53 a.m.at Fifth Avenue and E. 68th St. for a major injury.
A man, center bottom, bleeds from his injured leg as he gets helped from paramedics, firemen, and police in Central Park in New York, Sunday, July 3, 2016. The three landed on an explosive device that had been left in the park.
A spokesman for the NYPD Bomb Squad told the New York Post that the explosion appeared to be caused by a homemade device placed in a paper bag.
A 19-year-old man has been severely injured in an explosion in New York’s Central Park.
Commanding Officer of the NYPD Bomb Squad Mark Torre told a press conference that the Fourth of July holiday was a typical time of the year that the squad dealt with a lot of homemade explosives experimentations. He was to undergo surgery to his left foot and was in stable condition at a hospital, fire officials said.
Authorities suspect that the incident, which happened around 11 a.m., involved fireworks, though the victim’s friends, who were reportedly visiting from the Washington, D.C., area, have denied carrying any, The News reported.
“It’s sort of an ideal location conducive to conducting that kind of experiment or test”, Torre said.
There was no evidence that the explosion was related to terrorism and there were no specific, credible threats on NY over the July Fourth weekend, authorities said.
“We do not have any evidence of a constructed device or commercial-grade fireworks”, O’Connell said, adding there was no indication it was meant to hurt anyone.
Tourist John Murphy, visiting the city from CT, stayed with the injured man until emergency responders arrived and placed a tourniquet on his leg.
His grandmother said Sunday that his parents had traveled to NY from Fairfax, Virginia, to be with him.
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Hundreds of thousands of spectators are expected for a fireworks display set off from barges on the East River on Monday night, and Mayor Bill de Blasio announced plans for stepped-up security.
