Devon Staples, 22, of Maine/Florida
died after a fireworks mortar exploded on his head. This year there
have been a lot of firework related accidents. Folks having hands
blown off, chunks of legs removed, and so forth.
There was another
death but it was a little Black kid (12 year old Antonio Brade) so
its not really getting as much attention as the strapping young
Devon. By the way, this is going to be so all over the place. A
roller coaster of opinions even.
As you can imagine there was drinking
involved in this incident. Devon and his friends were blowing up
fireworks when Devon placed one over his head. His brother Cody said
“I was the first one who got there. There was no rushing him to the
hospital. There was no Devon left when I got there. It was a freak
accident...but Devon was not the kind of person who would do
something stupid. He was the kind of person who would pretend to do
something stupid to make people laugh...We're thinking he was just
waving his lighter around just joking and he might have caught part
of it and just lit it wrong. The pressure from the explosion that was
supposed to be 50 feet in the air, exploded directly above his head.
It did not take it off. It made a 'whump' sound, like a failed
explosion.”
