The man was watching an amateur fireworks display in Alviso on July 4 when a crate tipped over and sent explosives rocketing at him and his wife and friends.
Dr. Clifford Sheckter, a plastic surgeon at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center burn unit in San Jose, Calif., speaks with a patient on Wednesday, July 10, 2024, who was injured on the Fourth of July by illegal fireworks in Alviso.
He recalled being about 10 yards away from the spot when, in a flash instance his friend captured on video, the crate of high-powered fireworks tipped over and sent rockets hurtling toward him. Before he could react, he said he was on the ground with severe burns on his legs and huge patches of missing skin, and saw his wife and a woman they were with suffering similar injuries.
They did anyway, and while his friend was taken away by ambulance, he said he and his wife drove themselves to get to a hospital. He is currently being treated for second and third-degree burns on his right arm and both legs. He is expected to receive skin grafts to help treat his injuries. “Unfortunately, our attempts at preventing these injuries has not been successful this year. We’ve had one of the worst years for these types of accidents,” Sheckter said. “I would hope that with these types of consequences that people understand the gravity of what’s going on.”
He also voiced frustration with the response to the moment when he and his group were seriously injured, recalling that the revelry continued and that their plight was by and large treated like a disruption to the festivities.
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