NYPD Bodycam Shows Explosion That Floors Officers, Sparks Rescue

Despite being thrown backward by the blast, body camera footage shows responding NYPD officers quickly regrouping and focusing on evacuating frightened families—including young children—from the burning home.

May 1, 2026

2 min read

What to know

Responding NYPD officers were blown backward by a powerful explosion as they tried to enter a Queens home during a domestic violence call, with body camera footage showing glass and debris raining down on them.
Despite being stunned by the blast, officers immediately regrouped, checked on one another and rushed to evacuate residents—including several young children—as a five‑alarm fire consumed the home.
The suspect, who police say threatened his family with a knife and ignited flammable liquids, was later found dead beneath the rubble.

By Thomas Tracy

Source New York Daily News

The explosion that destroyed a Queens home Thursday blew cops responding to a domestic clash there backward several feet, sending glass and rubble raining down upon them, dramatic body-worn camera videos show.

But within seconds of being knocked back, the responding officers were back up, checking on each other and evacuating stunned residents — including several children — from the rubble of the home, the video shows.

A drunken Anroop Parasaram, who had been arrested several times for domestic disputes with his wife at the home on 130th St. near 109th Ave. in South Ozone Park, forced his way into the home at about 2:45 a.m. and threatened his family with a knife, according to cops.

He had several cannisters of liquid with him which police believe he used to set the five-alarm inferno as cops showed up to the scene and were about to open the door.

As a cop tries the door to the basement with keys given to him by the suspect’s estranged wife, an explosion erupts.

“You alright? You alright?” one cop can be heard asking his stunned brothers in blue.

Moments later, cops were taking toddlers in diapers from their panicked moms as the fire grew and they hastily evacuated the building, the 90-second clip released by the NYPD shows.

Parasaram was found dead “beneath the rubble caused by the explosion,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

Tisch praised the officers who responded.

“They had just been thrown to the ground by an explosion. And in that moment, with no clear sense of what else they might be walking into, they made the decision to keep moving forward,” Tisch said. “Their focus stayed exactly where it needed to be: on the people inside, on getting those children out, and on making sure that situation didn’t claim innocent lives.”

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