NYC Building Collapses After Blast, Fire

[Jeana (DP)]

Really? Wow, that stuns me. But suicide is a crime (which I always thought was stupid because if you kill yourself, what are they going to do? Send you to jail?) so wouldn't he at least be charged with trying to commit a crime? If he had started a fire in his building while standing outside himself, and the building had caught neighboring buildings on fire, wouldn't he be liable to fix those damages on the other properties? But people were injured so he could try to off himself and he might not get charged? I don't get it.

Not only that, but he tampered with a public utility. That has to be good for some sort of charge.

 

[Mathew]

He will be subject to lots of civil action but he is broke and he just blew up his only asset. He may be subject to several minor crimes but nothing really serious unless one of those other people die. Therefore I hope they all live and he goes down as a really stupid pitiful man.

 

[LinasK]

I can't wait until he gets out of his medically induced coma so he can be charged with arson!!!:furious: Grrrr! What a jerk! He tormented his wife with swastikas around the house because she had grown up in Nazi-occupied Holland! If he had let well-enough alone he would have gotten the building and his wife would have had $1.2 million. He just couldn't stand that. His e-mails are filled with paranoid dementia. How was he allowed to continue practicing medicine???:banghead: He also injured from 15-22 people including firefighters following the blast.

 

[LinasK]

This story was reported by: DORIAN BLOCK, KERRY BURKE, NANCY DILLON, ALISON GENDAR, DAVE GOLDINER, MELISSA GRACE, NICK HERSHONE, ADAM LISBERG, KATHLEEN LUCADAMO, CARRIE MELAGO, HELEN PETERSON, DEREK ROSE, BARBARA ROSS, MICHAEL SAUL, JIMMY VIELKIND, JESS WISLOSKI, OREN YANIV and ANNA ZIAJKA
It was written by: BILL HUTCHINSON
Carrie Melago




Dr. Nicholas Bartha could face serious jail time if he's convicted of blowing up his upper East Side home.

Prosecutors could slap Bartha with arson charges for intentionally causing yesterday's explosion. Because no one else was in the doomed building, he would likely be charged with third-degree arson or lower, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. He could also face first-degree reckless endangerment charges if prosecutors believe blowing up the E. 62nd St. structure caused a "grave risk of death" to passersby or neighbors. The charge carries a sentence of up to seven years in prison. more at link:http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/434174p-365776c.html

 

[Marthatex]

I read the article in the New York Times, and evidently he had attempted suicide a couple times prior to this. He loved that property more than anything and wasn't willing to sell it to pay off his wife.

Perfect example of someone who needed to be in the mental hospital instead of being a constant threat to others. He had been depressed a long time. He was a serious workaholic prior to this; nobody liked him. He evidently had immigrated from Romania with his family.

What a horrible end.

 

[Masterj]

Responding to Jeana's post about some thinking of the 9/11 attacks.... can you imagine the sheer terror they felt? Talk about re-igniting someone's PTSD syndrome. This guy will get sued for everything he has, and then some.

This building is within 5 blocks of my office and on my walking route to work. I am so thankful that I am away on vacation this week because if I had been in the vicinity I probably would have had a nervous breakdown. It took me long enough to feel comfortable using the subway and tunnels again after 9/11. I feel so badly for that poor young woman who was walking by at the time of the explosion.

 

[cathieq]

Family of man who allegedly blew up building visit him in hospital
Choosing compassion over contempt, the ex-wife and daughter of the doctor who allegedly blew up his upper East Side home out of spite for his family visited him Thursday in the hospital...
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/nation/15036456.htm

I just read his rambling email on the Fox site. Yet, in spite of everything he did and everything he said about his ex-, she was gracious enough to go see him. She seemed genuinely concerned about him - what a lady!

 

[Maral]

NEW YORK Jul 16, 2006 (AP)— The doctor suspected of blowing up his town house rather than allowing his ex-wife to benefit from its sale has died, nearly a week after suffering critical injuries in the blast, a hospital spokeswoman said Sunday.

Dr. Nicholas Bartha, 66, died late Saturday, said Mary Halston, an administrator at New York Presbyterian Hospital.

Police had been unable to speak to Bartha after the July 10 explosion because of his condition, but authorities have said they were investigating whether he might have caused it rather than sell the town house as part of a divorce judgment favoring his ex-wife.

Link

 

[luthersmama]

His death simplifies things a little bit. I suppose somebody else who was hurt or lost property will sue his estate, but at least the criminal case can be shelved.