California mom goes ballistic after teen son’s hands are blown to pieces after near-deadly mistake

An explosive Fourth of July celebration for two Southern California teens resulted in traumatic injuries to their hands, with potential amputations — leading to a desperate warning from one of their mothers.

Maria Escalante, a mother of twins, told CBS News that one of her boys and a friend lit up an illegal firework they picked up off the streets in Anaheim, which immediately blew up in their hands. 

Escalante’s son lost several fingers on his right hand, and is currently hospitalized with bandages wrapped around both his fists.

His twin sibling, who witnessed the unfortunate blast, is traumatized by the tragedy, she said.

“He’s not doing good. He’s going to be in the hospital for about two months. His hands are literally butchered,” Escalante told CBS.

The devastated mother said that her son would need reconstructive surgery, but if there isn’t blood circulation in his surviving fingers, then the only way forward would be to amputate his fingers.

“They’re going to do their best to reconstruct his hands, but they can’t guarantee nothing. … They’re going to see if he has proper circulation going to the last fingers he has, to the few fingers he has left in his hand,” she told the news outlet. 

Escalante went back to the scene on S. Mountain View Avenue and found pieces of the illegal firework. She is demanding that the Anaheim Police Department investigate the pipeline of the pyrotechnics. 

“[The other teen’s] mother told me that every year they sell illegal fireworks here, so I don’t know if the Anaheim Police Department knows about this or not, but they need to start investigating,” she said, adding the other boy’s hands were also badly injured.

Illegal fireworks continue to pose a severe safety threat throughout California.

According to 2023 data from the California Department of Public Health, fireworks incidents led to 718 emergency department visits and 200 nonfatal hospitalizations across the state.

Last month, The California Post reported that banned fireworks are steadily streaming into the Golden State from Nevada, where a dozen retailers are seeing a substantial influx of California buyers seeking to evade local bans.

The devastating consequences of these explosives were seen at a Fourth of July party last year, when an 8-year-old girl lost her life after a man ignited an illegal $400 cake packed with professional-grade explosives that ultimately malfunctioned.

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