We now know the answer to the question of what happens when you launch fireworks off the top of your head: You die. You die very, very quickly. Portland, Maine-based news station WCSH 6 reports that 22-year-old Maine resident Devon Staples this past weekend was killed instantly after he decided to try placing a fireworks mortar on top of his head and then setting them off.
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The New York Daily News subsequently added some more color to this story by getting some quotes from relatives who explained exactly why Staples decided set off fireworks from his head.
“I was the first one who got there. There was no rushing him to the hospital. There was no Devon left when I got there,” Staples’ brother Corey said. “It was a freak accident… But Devon was not the kind of person who would do something stupid. He was the kind of person who would pretend to do something stupid to make people laugh.”
So in the midst of pretending to do something stupid, he actually did something stupid… which makes pretending to do something stupid not a very smart thing to do in the first place. According to his brother, Staples had placed the fireworks on his head and was holding a lighter in his hand that accidentally lit the fireworks’ fuse. While this death is certainly tragic, it’s also one that could have been easily avoided had incredibly simple common sense come into play.
