Fireworks explosion leads to South Carolina 20-year-old’s death, coroner
A South Carolina man was killed during a Fourth of July fireworks explosion, according to the Oconee County Coroner’s Office.
Brock K. Jackson, a 20-year-old Aiken resident, died at about 10:45 p.m. Saturday night at the Prisma Health Oconee hospital’s emergency room, Coroner Karl Addis said Sunday in a news release.
At 9:25 p.m., Oconee 911 Communications received a call about a fireworks explosion on a private dock on Lake Keowee near Seneca, according to the release. Emergency responders went to an East Waterside Drive home.
The family at the home annually displays fireworks from the dock as part of the July 4 celebration, the coroner’s office said. On Saturday night they were shooting fireworks when other fireworks caught fire and detonated early, according to the release.
Multiple people on the dock jumped into the lake to escape the exploding fireworks, the coroner’s office said.
Jackson was found face down in the lake within the boat slip of the dock, according to the release. It’s possible the victim was thrown by the explosion into a boat lift in the slip, the coroner’s office said.
He was pulled from the lake back onto the dock within minutes, and that’s where Jackson spoke with a family member prior to suffering cardiac arrest, according to the release. EMS took Jackson to the emergency room where he died, the coroner’s office said.
An autopsy is scheduled to assist in determining Jackson’s injuries and cause of death, according to the release. Addis said the autopsy should show if Jackson died of blunt force trauma from impact with a boat lift or direct injuries from the fireworks.
No other injuries were reported.
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