Two Flagler County boys permanently disfigured by fireworks

Two children are permanently disfigured after fireworks exploded on them at a park.

The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said the boys told investigators they found the fireworks “laying around.”

“I got two kids that were playing with a firecracker. One of them has a hand almost blown off,” a woman told 911 while driving the boys to the hospital.

That woman didn’t even know the names of the boys in her backseat -- an 8-year-old missing part of his hand and an 11-year-old with an injured face.

“You were passing by and saw the kids running down the street, yelling?” the 911 dispatcher asked the caller.

“I heard the firecracker. I heard the firecracker and I looked. And I saw the kids running and hollering, hollering, ‘Mama, mama, mama.’ and I saw that his hand – his hand was hanging off and I said, ‘Baby, get in my car,’” the driver replied.

The fireworks the boys found are illegal to set off.

But as Action News Jax showed you last week, a loophole in Florida law allows people to buy them anyway if they're going to be used for "frightening birds from agricultural works and fish hatcheries."

Action News Jax asked State Sen. Audrey Gibson if that law needs to change.

“Thank you for bringing this to my attention. But if there is a glitch in the – a loophole, if you will – then that is something that we need to close. We don’t know, obviously, what people are going to do with them once they buy them,” said Gibson.

In the meantime, she’s asking the community to treat leftover fireworks like they would treat a weapon.

“They should be in a safe and secure place that kids don’t have access and unintentionally harm themselves and others,” said Gibson.

Cox Media Group