Fireworks aren't toys!!!!

[Constable]

I had the misfortune of going to a major call on Saturday night around 9:30pm. The call came in as a shotgun wound to the head. When I heard my dispatcher relaying the information to me, my a-hole cinched shut like you wouldn't believe. I had my new '04 CVPI drifting around a bunch of windy backroads headed there.

I arrived at the same time as two other officers... all three of us are EMTs. One headed for the victim and I searched for the shooter with my partner. We soon found that it wasn't a gunshot, but a fireworks prank gone bad.

A car full of juveniles had pulled up to a large metal mailbox and deposited a large explosive device (later identified as an M-1000) inside. They then pulled away. A motorcyclist was coming up behind them and had to slow down... the cyclist's wife was following behind him in a car.

As the motorcyclist passed by the mailbox, the explosive went off. It sent pieces of mailbox shrapnel through his neck, helmet, face, and more. The face shield and communication device were blown off the helmet. The helmet cracked in several places from the blast alone. Amazingly, the man did not drop the bike. He safely guided it off of the road and propped it upright. He then fell to the ground, bleeding profusely from his neck and head. Remember, the wife had to watch this all happen. She called 9-1-1 immediately and reported a gun shot.

NJSP Bomb Squad responded and examined the entire scene. The man was transported to the hospital. The metal pieces missed his carotid artery by about 1/8". He got over 45 stitches in his face and neck. If he had not been wearing a full-face helmet, he would have died.

Don't Let Your Kids Play With Fireworks!!!!

[woaface]

:eek: :eek: :eek:

Well...I've only had one firework , and that was mistaking what kind of firework I had in my hand (not a smoke , uh...oops!). It's a real good thing I've beyond resisted temptation to do anything like that. I'm sure scared of it now!

Glad the guy is ok that he'll be able to beat the out of those kids someday.

[Fourth Horseman]

Were the perps caught?

[Haggis]

Punks like that aught to be put away were the Sun don't shine for a very long time. I hope the Rider makes it back to normal ok and that no serious injury was done.

[Dr Caleb]

Some people just don't know the difference between a prank and dangerous behaviour. I don't know what an M-1000 is, but it sounds like a friggen grenade.

Stupid stupid stupid.

James: Resistance is not futile! Keep resisting! This is whay we all were encouraging you to not play with flammables! Things escalate until an incident like this happens - then you're fsck'ed.

[Bluerauder]

"...snip..." We soon found that it wasn't a gunshot, but a fireworks prank gone bad.

A car full of juveniles had pulled up to a large metal mailbox and deposited a large explosive device (later identified as an M-1000) inside. They then pulled away. A motorcyclist was coming up behind them and had to slow down... the cyclist's wife was following behind him in a car.

As the motorcyclist passed by the mailbox, the explosive went off. It sent pieces of mailbox shrapnel through his neck, helmet, face, and more. The face shield and communication device were blown off the helmet. The helmet cracked in several places from the blast alone. "...snip..."

Don't Let Your Kids Play With Fireworks!!!!
Excellent advice. :up:
Not sure what an M-1000 is; but I am familiar with the damage that cherrybombs, hammerheads, and M-80s can do. I assume that an M-1000 is a larger, more powerful variation of those.
Unfortunately, there will be many more "Fireworks Accidents Gone Bad" between now and the 4th of July. Emergency rooms and first responders will see the annual rash of serious burns, lost fingers, and worse. Even the so called "safe Class C fireworks" can be a problem. On the surface, this appears to be a prank that was not thought out completely. I suspect the mailbox acted much like the barrel of a rifle and caused most of the force of the blast to exit the front. The door and attached hardware became the projectile. :shot:
Glad that the motorcycle driver came though OK. Hope the pranksters that caused the injury have enough guts to come forward ..... but I doubt that will happen. Taking responsibility doesn't seem to be fashionable these days. :depress:

[MM03MOK]

http://www.atf.gov/pub/fire-explo_pub/illegal/illegal.htm


http://www.atf.gov/pub/fire-explo_pub/illegal/graphics/m1000.gif

M-1000, QUARTER STICK (Dynamite)

Average Size: 1" diameter, 6" long
Average Load: .97 oz. explosive mixture.
Risk Factor: Extremely severe injuries to body; has caused death.

[Bluerauder]

http://www.atf.gov/pub/fire-explo_pub/illegal/illegal.htm


http://www.atf.gov/pub/fire-explo_pub/illegal/graphics/m1000.gif

M-1000, QUARTER STICK (Dynamite)

Average Size: 1" diameter, 6" long
Average Load: .97 oz. explosive mixture.
Risk Factor: Extremely severe injuries to body; has caused death.

A quarter stick of dynamite ??????????? Those idiots are well above a prankster classfication.............
:down: :down: :down: :down: :down:
:stupid: :stupid: :stupid: :stupid: :stupid:

[Constable]

No, the suspects were not caught. We did a press release and are posting the incident on our PD's website in hopes that their peers will urge them to come forward. There are some really dumba$$ kids out there, but you'd be surprised how many of them can't live with the guilt and turn themselves in.

I can't post any pics of the scene or anything like that... kinda violates NJ statutes.

[Fourth Horseman]

I didn't actually know that the M-1000 designation was valid, but it seems it is. One time, during my youth, a buddy and I were walking across this public park when three guys come running by at flank speed, looks of panic on their faces.

"It's a *****ing M-1000!!!" one of them shouts as he sprints past me. My buddy and I look at a each other for a half second, and then start running the same direction as the other guys, just as a fast as we can move. A second later I see a flash and feel the concusion of the explosion. I don't know for sure what was exploded in that park that night, but it felt big and it made my ears ring.

I'd hate to be next to one when it went off.

[BillyGman]

The bad thing is when somebody has a lot of firewirks like that, and after awhile they start to get bored of lighting them off, so they start to devise ways to do more destruction w/them and the longer they have them in their possession, the more destructive they get, and the more risks they take until something like that happens.

my whole family always gathers together at 4th of July(or used to ), over my Sister's house. My brother in Law used to put on a fireworks show in the backyard every year w/out incident. Until my brother and I began bringing firewirks also to light off there ourselves. Everybody enjoyed them. And we began to bring more and more every year until it began to become a bit of a contest to see who could woo the crowd the most w/their fireworks display. And then something happened. it was terrible, but it could've been a lot worse.

Mt brother in Law decided two years ago to bring some professional looking 4" mortar shells. I had always stayed away from them because I felt that whoever made those should be the one lighting them off. But that night I gave into my brother in Law since he asked me and my brother to light them off for him, and he insisted that none of them explaoded, but only emitted spectacular colors like the ones you see that are done by the town on 4th of July.

he had 40 pieces, and they had to be placed in a 4" plumbing pipe set in the ground, and lit w/a butane torch. All is I remembered is him saying, "Bill, these only do colors, no explosions"......his famous last words about that I guess.......

Well, the first one I lit, and it was a catastophy!!!! I told all the kids there to get away from me and go back to the house. But one 15 yr old hung around, and so Ilet him since he never posed a problem in the previous years. i wish I had kicked him outta there too!! I lit the thing, and me and my brother ran towards the house, but that 15 yr old kid just happen to run the other way towards the woods. Wwll this thing only rose about 20 feet in the air,and then came right back down to the ground and blew up in an explosion that shook the whole house and entire neighborhood. I've had M-1,000's and let me tell you, this thing was three times as loud as that when it went off. it had landed back inside the plumbing pipe and blew it to pieces to a point there was nothing left of it. it was gone. And a piece of the pipe must of hit that kit in the face, becayse he started screaming, and begging someone to help him. I looked over at him, and saw a stream of blood coming out of the kid's mouth. Not a pretty sight.

The kid only lost a tooth, and p[art of his lip, and has had to get a plastic surgery a couple times since then, but it could've been his eyes! After that, none of our family messes w/fireworks anymore, and infact, we don't even see eachother on 4th of July at all. That incident ruined the whole holiday for all of us, and scarred that kid for life, and like I said, it could've beeb a lot worse!!!!!! Since then, two of my co-workers have told me of incidents that they were involved with where those same type of Mortar shells had been used, and that same thing happened where the shell didn't go up in the air very high as intended, and when it come back down and exploded people were in flames!!!! It just isn't worth it!!!!!!

[Dr Caleb]

... when three guys come running by at flank speed, looks of panic on their faces.

"It's a *****ing M-1000!!!" one of them shouts as he sprints past me. My buddy and I look at a each other for a half second, and then start running the same direction as the other guys, just as a fast as we can move.

Reminds me of a T-Shirt I saw. "BOMB DISPOSAL EXPERT. If you see me running. . . try to keep up."

A friggen 1/4 stick. Wholeeee schizen.

They don't let us play with fireworks up here. Nothing. Not on the 1st of July, never. Now I see why.

[Ross]

Where do they even get this stuff? I remember many years ago, we couldn't get M-80's in Texas, so a lot of guys went to Louisiana to get them. Then the M-80's went off the market, but you could still get M-60's in Louisiana. Are there states where you can buy this stuff?

[BillyGman]

M-60's are nuthing. they're about as loud as a standard firecracker. Nothing like an M-80 or M-1,000. People make these things. they can be made at your home, but they're not made w/anything like gunpowder. Instead they're made with what is called "flash powder". The most dangerous thing about flash powder is while you're making it. The substances used to make it (which I will NOT list here) are very unstable. There is one chemical that's used, that can actually ignite and explode sometimes simply from being exposed to oxygen in the air!!!! very scary stuff, which is why I chose not to get involved w/it. Once it's made, and all the ingredients are mixed together, the completed flash powder is a bit more stable, and the danger is when the fireworks in question that are made w/this flash powder are lit. But it can be done. NOT a good idea though.

[Patrick]

I hope they have caught the Idiots by now!!! I trained with EOD people when I was active duty and thier was stuff even trained proffesionalls would not do!!! Gives playing with fire a new meaining! WTF are these peoplen thinking!!! While doing SRT training I was in room and the a "Flash Bang" was used. I had protective gear on. Talk about something that will shack up your inerds! What these people or doing is just STUPID!! Its just fun, until someone gets hurt!! THEN ITS TOO LATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[Constable]

Flash-Bangs are nasty stuff. I chose to play the "criminal" in one of my Tactical Unit's training scenarios last year. I was a total hard-a$$ and took make-believe people hostage. They ended up tossing two flash-bangs through the windows of the room I was in. OUCH!!! I was completely disabled... sensory overload. Before I could react, I was in cuffs and being dragged out to the Emergency Services truck. I DO NOT LIKE EXPLOSIVES.

[Patrick]

Flash-Bangs are nasty stuff. I chose to play the "criminal" in one of my Tactical Unit's training scenarios last year. I was a total hard-a$$ and took make-believe people hostage. They ended up tossing two flash-bangs through the windows of the room I was in. OUCH!!! I was completely disabled... sensory overload. Before I could react, I was in cuffs and being dragged out to the Emergency Services truck. I DO NOT LIKE EXPLOSIVES.

Two FLASH BANGS!!! One and I was ready for Depends!!!!!