13-Year-Old Seriously Injured In LI Fireworks Accident

DEER PARK, NY — A 13-year-old Long Island boy was seriously injured when a firework struck him in the face on the Fourth of July, police said.

According to Suffolk police, a group of teens were lighting off fireworks in front of a home on Arcadia Drive when a mortar-type firework struck the teen around 10:50 p.m. Sunday. The boy, who police did not identify, was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital with serious injuries.

Police are asking anyone with information about the incident, including how the teens obtained the fireworks, to call the First Squad at 631-854-8152 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.

Consumer fireworks are illegal in New York, but they were certainly abundant in Long Island skies over the holiday weekend.

"As pandemic restrictions are now lifted, I know that a lot of residents are anxious to celebrate this year," Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said in a statement. "As a result, we have been receiving an increased number of complaints about the volume and intensity of fireworks being set off in residential areas."

On average, 180 people go to the emergency room every day in the United States with fireworks-related injuries during the month around the Fourth of July holiday.