A teenage boy is now blind in his left eye after an e-cigarette he was holding has exploded in his face.
Leor Domatov, 14, was testing out one of the e-cigarettes at the Plaza Vapes kiosk in Brooklyn's Kings Plaza Mall, when it exploded in his hands and face. He is now blind in his left eye because the explosion has caused shrapnel to cut through his cornea. His left hand could also become permanently damaged.
Domatov shared the explosion happened when he was testing a vaporizer. He said the store personnel handed him the vaporizer as it was being plugged into the battery of the store and it is when it exploded.
14-year-old blinded after e-cigarette explodes at Brooklyn mall kiosk https://t.co/bPmVd1V77I pic.twitter.com/2YPhilv6VB
— PIX11 News (@PIX11News) April 14, 2016
This is not the first time an e-cigarette exploded. U.S. Fire Administration has previously reported that about 25 reports of exploding e-cigarettes occurred from 2009 to 2014.
Last November 2015, a 35-year old man suffered third degree burns when his spare e-cigarette battery exploded while inside his pocket. Many attribute the explosion to the lithium-ion batteries that has combustible properties when it overheats.
What puzzles officials is to why Domatov, who is a minor, was being sold an e-cigarette when it is illegal to do so.
Marc Freund, a Lipsig, Shapey, Manus and Moverman partner who is handling the case, said that the mall's marketing strategy chooses no age.
"Leor was being marketed at the entrance of the Kings Plaza Mall," Freund said. "A mall that caters to children, and they're marketing these products, causing all these injuries."
Freund said that Kings Plaza and kiosk owner should take responsibility for the incident and must take necessary actions so it never happens again.
Freund expressed his dismay that proper signs advising minors about the city and state law was non-existent prior to the incident.
"There was not even a single sign advising of the city and state law until after this incident takes place," Freund said.
Kings Plaza Mall and kiosk owner are yet to issue a comment on the accident.
Photo: Terry Ozon | Flickr
