Homeless San Francisco man blows off eye lighting fireworks
Homeless man injures eye with fireworks on July 4th
Captured on video, the man can be seen bending over to light the mortar and the firework exploding before he?s able to walk away.
SAN FRANCISCO - A homeless man in San Francisco is recovering after he injured his eye lighting a firework on the Fourth of July.
In video captured by an employee at a nearby liquor store that night, Lynn Kyle Scribner can be seen bending over to light the mortar and the firework exploding before he’s able to walk away.
What He's Saying:
"I thought my whole face was gone," he said, describing the moment. "The second I put the flame to it, three of the mortar things shot up directly into my eye – pop, pop, pop."
The incident happened in the Lower Haight neighborhood.
In the video, Scribner is seen walking up the hill, where he said witnesses called 911 and he was brought to the SF General.
Man says he needed multiple surgeries
"They had to put back together my eyeball, piece by piece. [The doctor] said I’ll never be able to see out of my eye," he said.
Scribner said he knows someone who died last New Year’s Eve doing the same thing.
"It directly hit him in the head and killed him," he said.
His partner, Mark Jackson, who was not there when it happened, said he thought it might have been worse when he heard the news that Scribner had been injured.
"A little bit of excitement of seeing something blossom in the air, it’s not worth potentially someone’s vision, or someone’s life," he said.
The backstory:
Scribner and Jackson said they’ve been struggling with homelessness, staying at a motel as they wait to secure permanent housing.
"I finally got accepted through DAHLIA housing, the mayor’s program. We’re just waiting to hear back from them," Scribner said.
He said this incident set them back, with mounting medical bills and lingering housing expenses.
"In his situation, we really need cleanliness. We need a room," said Jackson.
The safety warning:
Now, they share caution with others.
"Better to watch, not to light," said Scribner.
"There’s a reason these things are illegal," said Jackson.
Doctors tell Scribner he will likely have to have a few more surgeries.
His family is fundraising for medical and housing expenses in the meantime through GoFundMe.
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