When it went off, the rocket shot to the ceiling of Shannon Kramer's car, ricocheted and dived between his legs, bursting into a display that burned hair and skin from the 35-year-old Jacksonville man.
In an interview from his hospital room at Shands Jacksonville Monday, Kramer said a prank Sunday night in Riverside went south when he lit the fuse on the 6-inch rocket, but wasn't able to get it out the window of the Mustang before a quick fuse lit the propellant.
Seconds later, after the rocket blasted around inside the car, Kramer was burned and temporarily blinded.
"I thought I was dead," he said. "I couldn't see, I couldn't hear. I went to stand up and I couldn't walk."
Kramer said he suffered second-degree burns and a cut on one leg. His eyelashes and a lot of body hair are gone and an outline mimicking his sandals is burned onto his feet.
"I thought they had shaved me when I woke up this morning," he said.
Jacksonville police were called to the explosion at 313 Herschel St. about 9:30 p.m. and told a man who had been threatening his girlfriend with a bomb had a mishap. Police were told Kramer and Diane Perez had been fighting during the day, according to a report.
http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/033004/met_15215660.shtml
In an interview from his hospital room at Shands Jacksonville Monday, Kramer said a prank Sunday night in Riverside went south when he lit the fuse on the 6-inch rocket, but wasn't able to get it out the window of the Mustang before a quick fuse lit the propellant.
Seconds later, after the rocket blasted around inside the car, Kramer was burned and temporarily blinded.
"I thought I was dead," he said. "I couldn't see, I couldn't hear. I went to stand up and I couldn't walk."
Kramer said he suffered second-degree burns and a cut on one leg. His eyelashes and a lot of body hair are gone and an outline mimicking his sandals is burned onto his feet.
"I thought they had shaved me when I woke up this morning," he said.
Jacksonville police were called to the explosion at 313 Herschel St. about 9:30 p.m. and told a man who had been threatening his girlfriend with a bomb had a mishap. Police were told Kramer and Diane Perez had been fighting during the day, according to a report.
http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/033004/met_15215660.shtml