Illegal July Fourth firework display shoots into crowd at bustling NYC park, injuring several — who say cops didn't protect them

New York Post

6 hours ago

Let freedom ring… in your ears.
A bozo blasted illegal fireworks into a crowd of Fourth of July revelers in a Greenpoint park, leaving one woman with a perforated eardrum and her hair set aflame, she fearfully told The Post.
Dozens of other terrified onlookers in Newtown Barge Park scattered as the wayward fireworks whizzed into the crowd, directly hitting several revelers and sending parents running to save their screaming children, according to the woman and a video obtained by The Post.
'Some of those came sailing right towards my head … it detonated like right next to my ear,' she said.
4 Illegal fireworks getting shot off at Newtown Barge Park in Greenpoint, Brooklyn on Independence Day.
Obtained by NY Post
The woman — who wished not to be identified out of concern for her safety after being threatened by the rogue pyrotechnician — said the blast caused her to 'go deaf in that ear for about a minute,' and she still had not fully regained her hearing or sense of balance days later.
The terrifying pyrotechnics brouhaha unfolded July 4 around 9:40 p.m., as families and other large groups of patriotic celebrants gathered in the park to watch the Macy's fireworks show.
But instead of staying content with Macy's amazing display over the Brooklyn Bridge, one dope in a large group cooking out in the park began to light large 'commercial-grade' fireworks behind the crowd, the woman said.
The first few fraudulent fireworks shot up into the air, but by the fourth volley some offshoots flew horizontally into the crowd, she said.
4 People ducking for cover after a firework went off in Greenpoint.
Obtained by NY Post
One blast, besides rocking the woman's eardrum, set her hair on fire, she said.
A father, accompanied by two children, also had a 'big burn' on his shirt from the fireworks, she recalled.
Afterward, the woman and her partner confronted the unhinged parkgoers — who not only refused to apologize, but also tried to escort the pair from the park, she alleged.
'It felt very threatening, the way that they were walking us away from the situation,' she said, recalling there was still 'visible chaos' in the park at the time.
4 A woman at the park was left with a damaged eardrum and her hair set on fire.
Obtained by NY Post
Three cops approached the group after noticing they were escorting the couple out of the park, but when the woman explained that fireworks had been detonated and hit people in the crowd, a cop allegedly told her he could only send EMS for a medical evaluation.
'I then clearly felt very unsafe. I was like, you know, here's the police, they don't side with me. Here's all these people that are, you know, intimidating us,' she said.
The couple left the park and were eventually able to file a police report after connecting with 911 dispatchers multiple times — who sent EMS — and flagging down other neighborhood cops patrolling the neighborhood, she said.
4 People running from a firework shot off at the Greenpoint park.
Obtained by NY Post
The fireworks knucklehead and his friends continued to party untroubled by cops for 45 minutes, leaving them to avoid any sort of justice that night, the woman alleged.
'There just was so much dismissal of this situation from the people that did it, from the police … it just leads to this feeling that we collectively In New York no longer care about safety, including during things like the Macy's fireworks, which little kids come to see, and there were little kids in the park,' she said.
A police report has been filed for reckless endangerment, but no arrests have been made, according to the NYPD.
The incident is still under investigation, cops said.