A man was killed on the 4th of July when he placed a powerful firework on his head and then tried to launch it. The inevitable double talk of the family has already started.
“He thought it was a dud”, Mom says. But she admits he was also drunk. And here is my favorite quote,
- This photo is being reported as taken right before the accident. Who is at fault here?
‘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.’
Uh huh. That makes sense. Mom wants more rules. Regulations. Licensing. Training. Never mind personal responsibility or alcohol. So…let me help you out, Mom.
Don’t breed. You’re the problem.
Marky
www.tacticaltshirts.com
“Shooting Guns & Having Fun”
- Fireworks Mom
‘He thought it was a dud’: Mother of Disney World star who was killed launching a firework off his head speaks out and calls for stricter controls on explosives
Devon Staples, 22, died on Saturday night after he tried to launch a firework from his head in the backyard of a friends home in Calais, Maine
Police say Staples, who worked as a Disney prince at Florida, placed a fireworks mortar tube on his head and set it off, killing him instantly
His mother and father, Kathleen and Russ Staples, have called for tighter controls on who can set off fireworks following their son’s death
His mom said Russ had been drinking and was just ‘goofing off’
The mother of a Maine man who died on July 4 when he placed a firework on his head says her son believed the explosive was a dud as she called for stricter controls on who can set off the explosives.
Kathleen Staples on Monday said her son, 22-year-old Devon Staples, was just ‘goofing off’ and believed the firework couldn’t ignite, while admitting her son had been drinking at the time of his death.
‘I spent 22 years keeping that boy safe,’ she told told WBZ. ‘Do not drink, you need to have a designated sober person that is making life and death decisions with these things.’
Kathleen Staples says she is going to reach out to lawmakers about the possibility of tighter controls over fireworks.
She says the state should consider requiring safety training courses before allowing someone to use them. She compared fireworks with other regulated items such as cars and guns.
Her husband, Russ Staples, agreed.
‘You’re just supplying people with bombs. That doesn’t make sense to me,’ he told the Bangor Daily News.
Russ Staples also revealed that Devon was the second child the family had lost, but didn’t go into details. ‘It’s a long story,’ he told the Bangor Daily.
Devon Staples, of Calais, had been setting off fireworks with friends on Saturday night in the backyard of a friend’s home, according to Stephen McCausland, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
- Family with victim of Fireworks Death
He says Staples placed a fireworks mortar tube on his head and set it off, injuring his head. He died instantly.
While police maintain that Devon was trying to launch the firework off of his head, his brother describes the incident as ‘a freak accident’.
Devon said that his brother was holding a lighter which made the firework ‘go off accidentally’.
‘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,’ his brother 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.’
Cody said that his brother Devon lived in Orlando, Florida where he worked as an actor at Disney World and a dog walker.
He would play characters like Gaston from Beauty and the Beast and entertain children.
‘He loved it. He loved making people happy,’ Cody Staples said.
As a dog walker, Cody said his brother wanted to help people who had pet issues.
McCausland says Staples’ death marks Maine’s first fireworks fatality since the state legalized fireworks several years ago.
Calais is in eastern Maine, on the Canadian border near New Brunswick.
State fire marshals were also investigating several other Fourth of July fireworks accidents involving injuries in Friendship, Jefferson, Lebanon and Woodstock.
They said most of the accidents involved burns and eye injuries. McCausland said further details were expected to be released later on Sunday.
In 2011, lawmakers voted to repeal a 1949 law banning fireworks, reasoning the industry would create jobs and generate additional revenue.
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