Crime & Safety
IL Man Critically Injured After Fireworks Explode In His Face: Police
The 58-year-old man from unincorporated Cary was injured when he looked into the device's tube after it didn't detonate, police said.
CARY, IL — A 58-year-old Cary-area man is in critical condition in a Lake County hospital after police said that a firework that he did not believe had detonated exploded in his face Sunday night, knocking the man unconscious.
The man, who has not been publicly identified by police, was injured after police said he looked into the tube housing the commercial-grade fireworks device at 9:15 p.m. Sunday while setting off fireworks. The incident took place in the 24400 block of Hickory Nut Grove Road in unincorporated Cary.
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The Lake County Sheriff’s Office arrived to find the man in and out of consciousness after the incident. Police said Monday that the man arrived at the gathering and had brought commercial-grade fireworks, which require a permit.
Police said the man lit the explosive, which did not detonate as he expected. The man looked into the tube housing the firework, and it discharged, striking his face and then exploding after it make contact with his face.
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The man sustained major injuries to the head. He was taken to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, where he remains in critical condition.
There were several unexploded commercial-grade fireworks collected by sheriff’s deputies, which were transferred to the Waukegan Bomb Squad for destruction.
Criminal charges are possible, police said.
In 2017, a Chicago man was killed in a similar incident after a firework failed to detonate, and he bent over the tube to inspect it before it went off in his face. The 42-year-old man had been putting on a fireworks display for children, police said at the time.
In 2021, an Illinois man was killed in Boone County while he was lighting fireworks. The man, who was in his mid-30s, died while being transported to an area hospital.
The incident wasn't the only serious fireworks-related injury over the 4th of July weekend in Illinois in 2021. In Lake County, a man in his 20s lost an eye and suffered "severe traumatic injuries to his face" while shooting off fireworks.
His grandmother told reporters he was lighting fireworks and, when they didn't go off, he bent to check on them, and they exploded in his face.
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