Man Dies Instantly After Setting Off A Firework From His Head

Man Dies Instantly After Setting Off Firework From His Head

A 22-year-old Maine man who was drinking and celebrating the Fourth of July with friends is dead after he set off a fireworks mortar from his head.

Devon Staples was in a friend's backyard in the eastern Maine city of Calais, near the Canadian border, when he placed a fireworks mortar on his head and set it off, Maine State Police told the Portland Press Herald.

The explosion caused a head injury that killed Staples instantly.

The death of Staples, who was from Calais but lived in Orlando, according to his personal Facebook page, was the first fireworks-related fatality in Maine since the state legalized them in 2012, according the the Bangor Daily News.

In January of 2012, state lawmakers allowed anyone over 21 to use fireworks on private property. Less than two years later, they proposed legislation to reinstate the ban or at least further restrict fireworks use.

A 2014 study by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission found 94 fireworks-related deaths in the United States between 2000 and 2013.

Before You Go

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