A Brooklyn man injured by an exploding toilet in his home remains so traumatized that he now uses a rope to flush from a safe distance
outside the bathroom.
Michel Pierre was injured on Oct. 2 at the Caton Tower development in
Flatbush by a powerful blast from the bowl. “I’m afraid to flush the
toilet right now,” said Pierre, 58, who needed 30 stitches to close
shrapnel wounds on his head, arm and legs.
“It sounds silly but I’m still scared,” he said. “Maybe someday it goes
away but right now I’m in pain.” Pierre says his peace of mind has been
shattered. The water had been turned off that day in his ninth-floor
flat at the 19-storey building while a plumbing contractor installed a
backflow prevention valve. At around 11pm Pierre checked if the
pressurised flush-valve toilet was working and pulled the handle.
He’ll never forget what happened next.
“I remember there was a ‘boom’ and the thing exploded in my face,”
Pierre said. “I was blinded and pieces flew all over the place.” Pierre
was briefly unconscious and awoke covered with blood. Firefighters
from nearby FDNY engine and ladder companies responded to a “utility
emergency” in the building. Pierre’s cuts were treated at Methodist
Hospital.
“Toilets are supposed to flush, not explode,” said Pierre’s lawyer
Sanford Rubenstein who is preparing a lawsuit against Century
Management, which runs the building. “This victim is entitled to
damages for the serious injuries he sustained through no fault of his
own.” Experts said a build-up of air pressure in the pipes during the
repairs is the likely culprit. Pierre, an information technology
specialist for a government agency, said he doesn’t know when he can go
to the bathroom in peace again. “I can’t stop thinking about it every
time I look at the bowl,” Pierre said, who was relieved that he wasn’t
sitting down during the fateful flush.
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