CBS News – A 4-month-old in a playpen was hospitalized with critical injuries after a neighbor’s fireworks landed on her on her Ohio porch.
A witness told police a 10-year-old neighbor of the Youngstown baby kicked over a lit tubular firework, which shot into the playpen, burning Aubree McCormick.
The baby was flown to the burn unit at Akron Children’s Hospital following the late Friday night accident.
A spokeswoman at Akron Children’s Hospital confirmed the hospital was treating the baby Monday. After the incident, CBS affiliate WKBN reported the baby was awaiting skin grafts from her legs to her face.
Kiarra Jackson, the baby’s mother, later told WKBN that her daughter is slowly getting better. She said they are waiting for a doctor to develop a treatment plan for her. The road to recovery will be long, the doctor said.
The child’s grandmother, Carol McCormick, injured her fingers rescuing the baby. She told WFMJ-TV in Youngstown the child’s entire face is burned.
“All I could do was just react,” McCormick said. “I didn’t think. I reacted. I grabbed hold of the firework and then the bed caught on fire that she was laying in.”
The child sustained first-, second- and third-degree burns on her face and hand, McCormick said.
Police are investigating.
