The explosion was heard by attendees of Elie Wiesel’s funeral on E. 61st St. — though there was no sign the blast was related to the memorial for the Pulitzer Prize winning Holocaust survivor.
Witness John Murphy, 53, said he tried to keep the young man conscious following the explosion.
"I saw his friends standing there panicking. I saw the young man laying on the grass. His foot is all but gone. His friends claimed he was walking down the rocks and he stepped on it. It looks like there was an explosion,” Murphy said.
He asked the group if they were carrying fireworks or something similar.
“They said, ‘We didn't have anything. He stepped on something!" Murphy recalled.