Montebello mayor survives bathroom explosion

Montebello Mayor Jeffrey Oppenheim's sense of humor was unscathed after an explosion blew him out of a bathroom on Sunday.

"It was not like the Danny Glover scene [from Lethal Weapon 2]," he joked Tuesday, adding that the cause of the blast "wasn't the burrito I had the night before."

Oppenheim, a neurosurgeon who practices in Rockland and Orange counties, was lucky to escape the eruption in Providence, Rhode Island, where he was visiting his friend Andrew Pessin.

The mayor said he walked into the first-floor bathroom of Pessin's house around 1:15 p.m. and turned on the light.

He heard a clicking noise — "like trying to ignite a gas stove" — and tried to find out what was making the sound. In an instant, the room exploded, throwing him out onto the kitchen floor.

"It was my image of what it's like to get hit by a concussion grenade," he said.

Oppenheim, 53, ran outside as the house caught fire, as did Pessin and his three young children, who didn't even have shoes on. He said a fire inspector told him Tuesday that the blast was likely caused by a gas leak from the street.

"It was unbelievable," Oppenheim said. "The fire chief said, 'I don't know what religion you are, but you should be thanking somebody. You should be dead.'"

Oppenheim said he was unharmed except for some welts on his legs.

"I cannot believe I'm alive," he said. "I was just very, very happy that it was me in the bathroom and not one of his kids. I'm just so, so grateful. What a near miss."

Twitter: @MattSpillane

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