A man on Long Island was caught on surveillance video setting fire to a porta potty outside a house under construction, then running away after getting set ablaze himself.
The Nassau County Police Department on Wednesday released video of the bizarre blaze, asking for the public’s help in identifying the alleged arsonist.
In a release, the department said police were called to the scene around 4:30 a.m. Saturday for “an active fire in front of the home at 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 was seen running on fire from the victim’s driveway and fled eastbound on Sprucewood Drive,” the police statement said. “The portable bathroom parked on the front lawn sustained heavy fire damage, and the home has minor damage.”
In the video, a man can be seen emerging from the porta potty, which is engulfed in flames. He tries to put them out but then catches fire himself, and sprints down the street. Police had not found him as of Wednesday night.
The fire didn’t stop at the toilet — it raced through the yard and then to the partly built home, reported ABC News.
“You see somebody 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 down the street and as far as three houses from where the cameras went you saw he was still on fire.”
The Wantagh Fire Department put out the fire; no one was injured.
“Who lights a porta potty on fire? 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.”