Fireworks in pocket injure man

OAKLAND, Calif. – A 19-year-old man has lost a hand and a chunk of his leg after illegal fireworks exploded in his pockets.

Josh Myers was attending a Fourth of July party when he said a floating ember ignited bottle rockets in his back pocket. The flames spread to his front pocket, which held two sticks of M-1000, equivalent to about a quarter-stick of dynamite each.

Myers managed to push a 2-year-old girl out of the way, put his left hand over his pocket and fall to the ground. The blast seriously injured the girl’s leg.

“I thought I just took a pretty bad blow. But then I ended up looking, and I was like, yeah, I saw it. My hand was gone,” he said.