Homicide Charges Likely in EV Gas Explosion Case [Updated]

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The East Village building explosion has now entangled landlords and lawyers in its wake. (Getty Images)
The East Village building explosion has now entangled landlords and lawyers in its wake. (Getty Images)

It’s been a week since a fiery explosion leveled three buildings in the East Village and, the New York Police Department is considering charging building owner Maria Hrynenko, contractor Dilber Kukic and others with criminally negligent homicide, according to the New York Daily News. Since the explosion, media outlets have unleashed a deluge of speculation and analysis. Here’s a roundup of the news:

—At about 3:15 PM on Thursday, March 26, construction workers accidentally ruptured a gas main in the Sushi Park restaurant, on the ground floor of a five-story tenement at 121 Second Avenue. This rupture triggered a blast which destroyed the Sushi Park building and two adjacent ones. Among the other businesses that were leveled were ramen shop East Noodle and Belgian restaurant Pommes Frites.

To keep reading, click here for the New York Observer story.

Update: The headline and top of the Commercial Observer version of this story was edited to reflect that homicide charges were likely in the case.