PORT ANGELES — A 20-year-old man from the Seattle area was in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center on Saturday after a flying fireworks projectile hit him in the eye early that morning east of Port Angeles.
Justin Holland, 20, was hurt on Gales Street, said Sgt. John Hollis of the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office. A nursing supervisor at the Seattle hospital said Saturday his condition was critical.
The injury was one of two related to fireworks that paramedics from Clallam County Fire District No. 2 treated during Fourth of July festivities, Fire Chief Sam Phillips said.
In a separate incident, an unidentified 47-year-old man lost teeth when a fireworks mortar hit him in the face on Hunt Road west of Port Angeles, Phillips said.
Holland was struck in the left eye with a mortar, a projectile type of firework launched from a tube, at close range at 12:04 a.m., Phillips said.
“The patient was reported as conscious and breathing, although the projectile had struck his left eye, which was bleeding profusely,” Phillips said in a press release.
Holland was taken to Olympic Medical Center by ambulance and was later airlifted to Harborview.
No citations were issued, Hollis said.
Phillips did not identify either Holland or the man hurt on Hunt Road to protect their privacy.
Paramedics were told the man hurt on Hunt Road was walking away from a group of friends when the mortar was lit, Phillips said.
The projectile went off in an unexpected direction, and hit the man directly in the face.
“It kind of took a stray course and hit him right in the mouth, and knocked his front teeth out,” Phillips said.
Friends were putting direct pressure on the man’s wound when paramedics arrived, Phillips added.
Hollis said the Sheriff’s Office did not respond to this call.
The man was taken by ambulance to OMC.
It is necessary to know the names of patients to get their conditions from hospitals.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
