A man who died trying to launch a firework off the top of his head for the Fourth of July used to perform as Gaston at Disney World. Stephen McCausland, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, said 22-year-old Devon Staples of Calais, Maine was setting off fireworks with friends on Saturday night in the backyard of a friend's home. Staples put a fireworks mortar tube on his head and set it off. He died instantly, according to McCausland.
Police say the friends had been drinking. Staples's brother Cody told the Daily News of New York that he was a few feet away when his brother lit the firework and was the first to come to his side after it exploded. The deceased man's brother, Cody Staples, was only five feet away when the nightmarish scene played out.
Cody insists that his brother did not intend to light the fireworks and that it was a silly stunt gone horribly wrong. Devon Staples lived in Florida and played the role of Gaston at Disney Land. Those who knew Devon said that he enjoyed entertaining others and making them happy, which might explain the "threat" to launch the fireworks from atop his head.
Stephen McCausland, the spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, has a slightly different take on the event. Whatever Staples' intentions were, the reloadable fireworks mortar on his head was lit, causing a fatal explosion. The death of Staples is the first since fireworks were made legal to purchase in the state of Maine in 2012. The Bangor Daily writes that several other people in the area were apparently hospitalized for injuries related to 4th of July festival. Such a situation isn't that surprising; hundreds, if not thousands of people are hospitalized each year for fireworks-related accidents.