Teen Suffers Horrific Injury During ‘Stupid Game’ Outside Fast-Food Restaurant

An 18-year-old California graduate lost his right hand after a firework exploded moments after he lit it outside an In-N-Out Burger.

Nader Hanna had graduated from high school just three days earlier when he met up with his twin brother and a group of friends at the popular burger chain in Pleasanton on June 3, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The group had stopped to get food and set off fireworks in the parking lot, something Hanna said they had done on many summer nights before.

At one point, a classmate handed him a foil-wrapped firework about the size of a tennis ball. Hanna said the device exploded almost instantly after he lit it.

“It just exploded in my hand the second I lit it,” Hanna told the newspaper. “My hand took the whole blow. I looked down and I didn’t see a hand. It disintegrated.”

The blast severed Hanna’s right hand. His twin brother, Ramsey, immediately called 911 before desperately searching the ground for pieces of his brother’s hand that could be taken to the hospital.

Their friend Kevan Mokashi ran into the restaurant to ask someone else to call emergency services. Police officers arrived and applied two tourniquets before paramedics reached the scene.

“His hand just looked like it was put in a blender, it was just flesh,” Mokashi said. “There was no hand, it was just spewing blood everywhere. We were all freaking out.”

Doctors were unable to save Hanna’s hand, although they were able to preserve his wrist.

Hanna is left-handed, but he said losing his non-dominant hand has still made everyday activities far more difficult. Simple tasks such as brushing his teeth, putting on socks and driving now require major adjustments.

Hanna believes the firework may have been defective. However, Pleasanton Police Lt. Nicholas Albert said investigators believe it was an illegal explosive rather than one of California’s legal “safe and sane” fireworks.

Police did not cite Hanna because of the severity of his injuries. Authorities also said they did not have enough evidence to launch a criminal investigation into the sale or distribution of the firework.

The devastating accident became a grim warning ahead of the Fourth of July holiday, a time when fireworks-related injuries typically surge across the United States.

The Pleasanton Police Department later referenced Hanna’s case in a public safety warning.

“This incident is a powerful reminder of how quickly fireworks can change lives in a matter of seconds,” the department said.

The explosion forced Hanna to miss his graduation celebrations and postpone the beginning of college. Despite the life-changing injury, he said he is focused on his recovery and hopes to eventually receive a prosthetic hand.

“It just motivated me to be better, for the future,” Hanna said. “Now I have to be someone great. I can’t be an average dude now since I don’t have a right hand.”