A Long Island man was caught on surveillance footage setting a porta-potty on fire outside a home under construction, then running away after setting himself on fire.
Nassau County police released video of the bizarre fire on Wednesday, asking for the public’s help in identifying the alleged arsonist.
In a news release, the department said police were called to the scene around 4:30 a.m. Saturday for “an active fire at the front of the house in a portable bathroom” outside a home under construction in Levittown.
“Upon police arrival, a thorough investigation was conducted and it was determined that an unknown male subject ran from the victim’s driveway on fire and fled eastbound on Sprucewood Drive,” the police statement said. “The portable bathroom parked in the front yard sustained heavy fire damage and the house has minor damage.”
The video shows a man emerging from the porta-potty, which is engulfed in flames. He tries to put them out, but then catches fire himself and sprints into the street. The police had not yet found him as of Wednesday evening.
The fire did not stop at the toilet, but swept through the yard and then into the partially built house, ABC News reported.
“You see someone come out, a big whoosh. A big thing of flames,” the homeowner’s mother, Barbara Piccione, told News 12 Long Island. “He was running around trying to put his feet out and then he ran into the street and up to three houses away from where the cameras went you could see he was still on fire.”
The Wantagh fire brigade extinguished the fire; no one was injured.
“Who sets fire to a porta potty? I’ve never heard of a porta potty arson. Only in Levittown,” Piccione told News 12. “We want to know who did this; we want him caught.”
