Man injured by fireworks after trying to save children in Fountain

A man from Colorado Springs is recovering from a sliced hand and shattered wrist after fireworks exploded during Independence Day.

Gabriel Hinojosa says he was at a family get together near Mesa Ridge in Fountain, where kids were lighting fireworks.

“At one point, I noticed that one of the fireworks was upside down and there were a lot of kids around. It was already lit, and they tried to shove it in there and it would’ve blown up right there, so I went to go grab it. I was going to throw it but everywhere I looked, I saw kids,” he said.

It exploded in his hand.

“I didn’t know whether to throw it, I didn’t know whether to kick it, I didn’t know whether to do anything with it, so I just held it as high as I could away from everybody’s face and it blew my hand up,” he said.

Hinojosa had to undergo emergency surgery and a metal plate is now holding his arm and wrist together.

“I had to get my palm put back together. My wrist they said got shattered in five different spots. I’ll have to have the plate in for four or five months and I won’t be able to bend my wrist,” Hinojosa said.

Luckily no one else was hurt, but Hinojosa gets emotional sharing his warning.

“I couldn’t even imagine what it would have done to a kid’s face or something. If I wasn’t there to grab it or hold it away, it could’ve been way worse,” he said.

This comes days after we reported on another incident involving fireworks.

Friday we spoke with Justin Bryden who told us a group of people were igniting fireworks in an El Paso County neighborhood when one firework Bryden was holding ignited others in his pocket. Watch below:

It’s illegal to ignite fireworks in the city of Colorado Springs, and only certain fireworks are permitted in El Paso County outside of the city limits.

Hinojosa says he knows the fireworks were illegal, but says it could have happened with legal fireworks as well.

“Fireworks are so dangerous, I know that it’s patriotic and it’s something the world and the United States do to celebrate, but it needs to be left up to the professionals and especially not in kid’s hands because it’s very, very dangerous,” he said.