Exploding toilet has left man wounded and afraid to flush

A Brooklyn man injured by an exploding toilet in his home remains so traumatised that he now uses a rope to flush from a safe distance outside the bathroom. Michel Pierre was injured on Oct. 2 at the Caton Tower development in Flatbush by a powerful blast from the bowl. “I’m afraid to flush the toilet right now,” said Pierre, 58, who needed 30 stitches to close shrapnel wounds on his head, arm and legs.



“It sounds silly but I’m still scared,” he said. “Maybe someday it goes away but right now I’m in pain.” Pierre says his peace of mind has been shattered. The water had been turned off that day in his ninth-floor flat at the 19-storey building while a plumbing contractor installed a backflow prevention valve. At around 11pm Pierre checked if the pressurised flush-valve toilet was working and pulled the handle.

He’ll never forget what happened next. “I remember there was a ‘boom’ and the thing exploded in my face,” Pierre said. “I was blinded and pieces flew all over the place.” Pierre was briefly unconscious and awoke covered with blood. Firefighters from nearby FDNY engine and ladder companies responded to a “utility emergency” in the building. Pierre’s cuts were treated at Methodist Hospital.



“Toilets are supposed to flush, not explode,” said Pierre’s lawyer Sanford Rubenstein who is preparing a lawsuit against Century Management, which runs the building. “This victim is entitled to damages for the serious injuries he sustained through no fault of his own.” Experts said a build-up of air pressure in the pipes during the repairs is the likely culprit. Pierre, an information technology specialist for a government agency, said he doesn’t know when he can go to the bathroom in peace again. “I can’t stop thinking about it every time I look at the bowl,” Pierre said, who was relieved that he wasn’t sitting down during the fateful flush.