SOUTH NYACK, N.Y. July 5 2013— A contract worker at a suburban New York college was arrested Tuesday in the June explosion that injured several Nyack College students, employees and a village police officer, authorities said.
Douglas Walker, 44, of South Nyack, N.Y., was charged with second-degree reckless endangerment and third-degree assault, both misdemeanors, said Brent Newbury, the South Nyack-Grand View police chief.
Citing the ongoing investigation, Newbury could offer few details about Walker leading up to the June 4 explosion in the college's Sky Island Lodge but said any actions Walker may have taken are believed to have been inadvertent.
"It was nonintentional," Newbury said, "but he should have been more responsible. He's being charged with assault because someone was injured during the reckless act. He was a maintenance worker on the grounds and a pipe was damaged."
Orange and Rockland Utilities spokesman Mike Donovan said Tuesday that his crews think some excavation work was performed on the grounds during which a gas pipe was bent and separated from a gas main. The result was an underground gas leak that seeped into the affected building through a "honeycomb" of drains.
The pipe looked like it had been moved and hooked by some type of earth-moving machinery," he said. "We unearthed the pipe and turned it over to the chief investigating authorities."
Donovan said the area above the pipe should not have been subjected to heavy machinery. Further, he said there were no signs that the pipes below the ground had been marked off and that no request to take such a step had been filed with the utility.
Five Nyack College employees and two students were injured when the blast occurred at 11:51 a.m. June 4. A South Nyack-Grand View officer patrolling outside the building after detecting a strong odor of gas also was hurt.
The explosion, which was heard widely across the college and surrounding communities in Rockland County, N.Y., about 25 miles north of New York City, shattered windows in the building and caused a fire that was extinguished by an in-house sprinkler system.
Police said Walker was an employee of Aramark Facilities Management, a Philadelphia-based company that provides contract facilities services to more than 600 colleges in North America. Officials there could not immediately be reached for comment.
Walker was released without bail Tuesday and is scheduled to be arraigned Monday evening in South Nyack Village Court. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.
Douglas Walker, 44, of South Nyack, N.Y., was charged with second-degree reckless endangerment and third-degree assault, both misdemeanors, said Brent Newbury, the South Nyack-Grand View police chief.
Citing the ongoing investigation, Newbury could offer few details about Walker leading up to the June 4 explosion in the college's Sky Island Lodge but said any actions Walker may have taken are believed to have been inadvertent.
"It was nonintentional," Newbury said, "but he should have been more responsible. He's being charged with assault because someone was injured during the reckless act. He was a maintenance worker on the grounds and a pipe was damaged."
Orange and Rockland Utilities spokesman Mike Donovan said Tuesday that his crews think some excavation work was performed on the grounds during which a gas pipe was bent and separated from a gas main. The result was an underground gas leak that seeped into the affected building through a "honeycomb" of drains.
The pipe looked like it had been moved and hooked by some type of earth-moving machinery," he said. "We unearthed the pipe and turned it over to the chief investigating authorities."
Donovan said the area above the pipe should not have been subjected to heavy machinery. Further, he said there were no signs that the pipes below the ground had been marked off and that no request to take such a step had been filed with the utility.
Five Nyack College employees and two students were injured when the blast occurred at 11:51 a.m. June 4. A South Nyack-Grand View officer patrolling outside the building after detecting a strong odor of gas also was hurt.
The explosion, which was heard widely across the college and surrounding communities in Rockland County, N.Y., about 25 miles north of New York City, shattered windows in the building and caused a fire that was extinguished by an in-house sprinkler system.
Police said Walker was an employee of Aramark Facilities Management, a Philadelphia-based company that provides contract facilities services to more than 600 colleges in North America. Officials there could not immediately be reached for comment.
Walker was released without bail Tuesday and is scheduled to be arraigned Monday evening in South Nyack Village Court. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.