Pedestrian steps on rock, gets foot blown off in Central Park; cops initially called it...

The FBI is now involved in the investigation of an explosion that occurred yesterday in New York City’s Central Park in which an 18-year-old man suffered major damage to his left foot.

"An explosion strong enough to tear off a man’s foot doesn’t come from scraping a couple sparklers and cramming the residue into a pill container. It takes knowledge, and it takes resources. It also takes a bit of depraved indifference to leave it in an area where it is likely to be discovered, picked up, handled, or stepped on. That’s not something you normally find when someone is doing “bake your own” fireworks."
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Central Park bomb.jpg
 
Marauder06 said:
The FBI is now involved in the investigation of an explosion that occurred yesterday in New York City’s Central Park in which an 18-year-old man suffered major damage to his left foot.




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Pretty impressive injury! The entire foot has been twisted 180 degrees. It takes a pretty good force to do that kind of trauma to an 18 year old's foot. The point of impact looks to be isolated to the left heel. I'm wondering how much damage was done to his lower left leg. Right leg looks ok, from what I can tell in this photo. I doubt this was a commercial fireworks injury.
 
Better not jump to any conclusions as to who could be behind this :^)

And, yes, the investigators shouldn't, but if I were a betting man...
 
At least that foot didn't turn into red mist... Hope he's got a strong support network during recovery.

BTW, rocks in Central Park don't just grow triggers and explode, no matter how violent you hear NYC has gotten, unless... it was a magic Bernie rock growing free shit for terrorists first.... it could happen, right?
 
x SF med said:
At least that foot didn't turn into red mist... Hope he's got a strong support network during recovery.

BTW, rocks in Central Park don't just grow triggers and explode, no matter how violent you hear NYC has gotten, unless... it was a magic Bernie rock growing free shit for terrorists first.... it could happen, right?
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It also spared his pelvic/lower abdomen from injury. I could not see his buttocks for injury there, but I'm guessing all the energy was played out below the knee.
 
I know zero about explosives, but does the fact that there was no shrapnel or ball bearings indicate that this could have been a dud homemade firework? Maybe this is wishful thinking, but it doesn't make sense to me that an IED would be placed so far off the beaten path.

http://i.imgur.com/xRR3CgA.png
 
Ex3 said:
I know zero about explosives, but does the fact that there was no shrapnel or ball bearings indicate that this could have been a dud homemade firework? Maybe this is wishful thinking, but it doesn't make sense to me that an IED would be placed so far off the beaten path.

http://i.imgur.com/xRR3CgA.png
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It makes perfect sense to me if it was your first, test IED. Maybe dumb kids, but maybe nervous, wannabe terrorists, who are now all the more confident and emboldened by their success.

Just my .02c
 
Looking at the small violent nature.of the injury, I have to think a shaped charge of some sort. Otherwise, the right leg would have seen some injury. That said, commercial fireworks that you can buy at the fireworks stand, include shaped charges. Roman candles and other similar fireworks are shaped charges. The question is, what was used to detonate the charge? Not the normal fireworks.
 
It could be a sick idiot or it could be a "dry" run. Hard to tell from just this info. Lots of cracked in the head cunts of all types in this great world of ours.
 
Red Flag 1 said:
Looking at the small violent nature.of the injury, I have to think a shaped charge of some sort. Otherwise, the right leg would have seen some injury. That said, commercial fireworks that you can buy at the fireworks stand, include shaped charges. Roman candles and other similar fireworks are shaped charges. The question is, what was used to detonate the charge? Not the normal fireworks.
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Directional charge, yes. Shaped charge, no. Originally designed as an anti-tank weapon, but more commonly used as a mining charge before OIF made them famous, a shaped charge utilizes a void cut into the explosive. Inside the hollow area of that cone, you will find a liner (typically metal, but glass can work). The main charge is evenly packed around the outside of that cone. When it detonates, assuming the HE is packed properly and the initiator is in the right place, the Munroe Effect occurs. In layman's terms, the cone is evenly compressed, and the liner is forced forward, forming a jet.

It is possible to channel the direction of the blast wave. For example, using IV bags or water bottles on one side of a main charge will tamp the blast on one side, and allow the blast to continue on in the other direction. Another example is when a breaching team utilizes explosive tools in a hallway. Each time the blast wave reflects off of a wall, it grows stronger. That's why a breaching team would be safer staging closer to the charge in that instance.

That said, based on the one photo I've seen, the damage to his foot is indicative of blast injury, but not a shaped charge injury. It would've been (at least somewhat) cleanly severed if it were in line with the jet, as opposed to blown off. While I have ideas for what the main charge could've been, I can't make any guesses without a little more information (color of smoke, etc). It wasn't large, and it could've been anything from TATP to Armstrong's mixture. From what I've gathered, the main charge was placed beneath the rock that he stepped on. The earth below would serve to reflect the blast wave back up towards the more mobile rock. The rock itself would then deflect the blast wave somewhat, which could be why his foot was only mangled all to hell, as opposed to becoming pink mist. This is just from a small charge.

While it's better to not have been blown up to start with, he got lucky. As far as who placed it, I'm going to withhold my speculation for the time being. If it turns out that the main charge was actually a primary charge, then the emplacer was also lucky (not to mention stupid).
 
Hummm, college kid make really big firework, places it under rock, light it and stands on rock, bang! Oh shit our buddy is all jacked, lets make a story quick and get help!!!

Would be my guess, but I guess it could be a noob terrorist pissed off at college kids who go climbing. The confetti around the area looks like an actual firework (maybe several put together) I fully agree with RK on the rock and besides I can't see any flash burning and I can see some stupid college kids doing some stupid shit like that.

Not saying that's what happened, but I can see some hipster college dork saying hold my water bottle and watch this, as he lit that bundle of bang and stood on the rock balancing himself into the "oh fuck my foot" award.

$.02

ETA: Don't stand on anvil bombs!:-o
 
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