ALBANY — Police Chief Brendan Cox told city lawmakers Monday that the Aug. 4 explosion at a Department of General Services gas pump was “not criminal” as local, state and federal agencies continue to investigate the cause of the blast that seriously injured two city employees who remain hospitalized.
Cox was joined at the Common Council’s General Services Committee meeting by Fire Chief Joseph Gregory, Department of General Services Commissioner Sergio Panunzio and John Reilly Jr., Mayor Dorcey Applyrs’ policy director. Comments from the department heads about the possible causes of the explosion did not stray far from earlier remarks on the blast made at an Aug. 7 news conference, though Cox did say that a spark ignited flammable vapors which caused the explosion.
The chief reiterated that the explosion was an industrial accident and that investigators from the state Office of Fire Prevention and Control, the state Department of Labor, the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were continuing to investigate…