Bodycam Video Released in the Queens House Explosion That Blew Officers Off Their Feet — the House Will Be Demolished

The moment is now on video. The NYPD has released body-worn camera footage from the house explosion in South Ozone Park, Queens, that sent officers flying through the air early Thursday — the blast arriving just before 3 a.m. as police responded to a domestic-dispute call at a home where a suspect was reported armed with a knife. The house exploded in flames and collapsed, and officials say it is set to be fully demolished.

A body believed to be the suspect, 50-year-old Anroop Parasram, was found in the rubble of what became a five-alarm, gas-fed fire, according to the released coverage. Law enforcement officials believe he was killed in the basement of the collapsed building. Seven police officers and a sergeant were injured in the blast — minor burns for most, with the most severe injury a laceration to the head that required stitches — as the explosion blew several officers off their feet and into a fence, exactly as the released cameras show.

The response was one of the largest the borough has seen this year. FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito said nearly 300 fire and EMS personnel responded to the scene. The Department of Buildings has issued full vacate orders for both homes adjacent to the collapsed house, and the American Red Cross is assisting 15 adults and 5 children who have been displaced.

What set the explosion off is still not officially settled. Officials say the dispute inside the home preceded the blast and that law enforcement believes the fire was intentionally set, but the exact cause of how the dispute triggered the blaze remains under investigation. This desk will report the investigators' finding when officials release it — and nothing before.