Posted on 07/05/2013 11:58:22 AM PDT by Gamecock
A 54-year-old Travelers Rest man died Thursday night after he was injured in a fireworks-related accident.
Robin Rhodes Smith was setting of fireworks at his home on Hilltop Road in Travelers Rest around 9:20 p.m. when the incident occurred, according to Mike Ellis, chief deputy for the Greenville County Coroner's Office.
Witnesses told Ellis that Smith lit a flaming ball charge and inserted it into a mortar-type launching tube, but it did not ignite. Smith used a pocket knife to install another fuse and, once lit, held the base of the tube up against his chest.
Ellis said the round exploded into Smith's chest through the bottom of the mortar tube, possibly because the charge was inserted upside-down.
Smith, who was in cardiac arrest when emergency crews arrived on the scene, was pronounced dead en route to Greenville Memorial Hospital. He died from penetrating blunt force trauma to the chest, according to Ellis.
Ellis said Smith was sitting in a chair on his back deck at the time of the accident.
The Travelers Rest police and fire departments are also investigating the death.
Ping
He ain’t stuck on stupid anymore.
I love South Carolina. Want to blow yourself up on the Fourth and New Years Eve? No problem, knock yourself out! No nanny state here!
I’m not being facetious, either. I lived down there for 8 years and loved it.
}:-)4
Sad. RIP.
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