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2007 Slush Pile

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Look before you light

2007 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

I suppose I could have set this one up better. I remembered hearing about this story as a young patrolman working for the Sacramento Police Department on the graveyard watch.

Mr Vasquez deserves an honorable mention for his attempt at removing himself from the gene pool while still living to tell the tale.

SACRAMENTO BEE Sacramento, California

July 2, 1993

ILLEGAL FIRECRACKER IN LAP INJURES MAN

Author: Jennifer Bjorhus and Kimberly Moy Bee Staff Writers

Edition: METRO FINAL Section: METRO Page: B1

Article Text:

It was the most expensive firecracker David Vasquez will ever buy.

The illegal M-100 firecracker that exploded in his lap cost him much more than the $8 he forked over for it Wednesday night.

The 20-year-old Sacramento man said he bought the firecracker from a man with a small "fireworks" sign displayed near 44th Street and Fruitridge Road.

Vasquez, driving home with a friend, said he only bought one firecracker to test it.

"It just sparked so quick I needed to throw it out the window quick," said Vasquez, recovering from surgery at UC Davis Medical Center on Thursday.

Vasquez tried to throw the firecracker out the window of his Cadillac as he drove by Scarborough and Manon ways in south Sacramento Wednesday night. But the firecracker hit the window frame at the roof and bounced back, landing between his legs.

"It backfired, as a manner of speaking," said Division Chief Don Schroeder of the Sacramento City Fire Department. "It's no laughing matter - he was seriously injured. It blew off a portion of his testicles."

The blast left a hole 5 inches deep in the car seat and cracked the windshield.

An M-100 firecracker - roughly 3 inches long and 1 inch in diameter - is equivalent to one-eighth of a stick of dynamite.

"I was sitting on it. The next thing I knew it went off," Vasquez recalled. "I jumped out of my car. It was just a really burning sensation on my thighs. My shorts were just shredded. It messed me up pretty bad."

Vasquez said, however, that he will be able to have children.

"I guess I lucked out," he said. "The doctor said I came pretty close to dying."

No charges are being filed.

Submitted on 09/11/2007

Submitted by: Tim Martin
Reference: Sacramento Bee, July 2, 1993

>> Moderator Scores <<

James said:
Definitely Toss: Repeat
(duplicate submission)

Chip said:
Definitely Toss: Repeat
As James said

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2007 Slush Pile

Look before you light

2007 Reader Submission Pending Acceptance

2007 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance