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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMaine man killed after trying to launch firework from top of his head
Devon Staples and his friends had been drinking and setting off fireworks on Saturday night in the backyard of a friends home in the small eastern Maine city of Calais, said Stephen McCausland, a spokesman for the state department of public safety.
Staples, 22, of Calais, placed a fireworks mortar tube on his head and set it off, McCausland said.
The firework exploded, killing Staples instantly.
His death is the first fireworks fatality in Maine since the state legalised fireworks on 1 January 2012, authorities said.
Calais is on the Canadian border near New Brunswick.
State fire marshals were investigating several other Fourth of July fireworks accidents involving injuries in Friendship, Jefferson, Lebanon and Woodstock. They said most of the accidents involved burns and eye injuries. McCausland said further details were expected to be released later on Sunday.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/05/maine-firework-kills-man-head?CMP=fb_us
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bettyellen
(47,209 posts)octoberlib
(14,971 posts)Buns_of_Fire
(17,213 posts)So naturally, they all share the surname "Man". QED.
Warpy
(111,456 posts)Alcohol and explosives, what could possibly go wrong?
I hate the Fourth of July.
octoberlib
(14,971 posts)Logical
(22,457 posts)Solly Mack
(90,801 posts)Damn.
lpbk2713
(42,774 posts)The logical outcome.
Devon Staples and his friends had been drinking and setting off fireworks on Saturday night in the backyard of a friends home ...
Nuclear Unicorn
(19,497 posts)"Here, hold my Chablis while I..."
Gothmog
(145,894 posts)hifiguy
(33,688 posts)Mr "Fuck the alligators!" or Mr "I'm gonna put explosives on my head, light them and see what happens."
You can't fix that kind of stupid and it usually has consequences.
underpants
(183,019 posts)Initech
(100,144 posts)Pool Hall Ace
(5,849 posts)from http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/devon-staples-man-dies-instantly-6009109
He told the New York Daily Times it was a freak event and Devon had been holding a lighter which made it go off "by accident."
He 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.
I don't know the first thing about fireworks. Whatever he had must have been pretty powerful, and it sounds like he wouldn't have done something like this if he hadn't been drinking. I wonder if Mr. "F*ck That Alligator" was under the influence.
octoberlib
(14,971 posts)his lighter and it went boom. The other articles made it seem like it was intentional. Tragic. I also wonder about the mortars. Sounds like military ordnance .
hatrack
(59,602 posts)The stuff you see shoot up 100s of feet at a professional display - that's what this is, or something approaching it. Lots of explosive force.
octoberlib
(14,971 posts)B Calm
(28,762 posts)in this backwards country and marijuana is not.
bigwillq
(72,790 posts)We made our own ring, costumes, props; created names for each character, intro music. I got dropped on my head twice.
Jamastiene
(38,187 posts)Even when it happens in Maine, it's Florida Man. smh