Instead, the rest of the fireworks ignited, causing the large blast. In audio from the 911 call, people on the scene said Rivers might have lit a smoke bomb inside the vehicle.
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Rivers was breathing but unconscious when he was pulled from the vehicle. He was taken to Miami Valley Hospital in critical condition, and police described his injuries as catastrophic and disabling.
For much of the evening, police kept Delphos Avenue blocked off and evacuated the neighborhood as a precaution. While officers said it was fireworks that triggered the blast, Dayton Police Lt. Jason Hall said he was awaiting test results to confirm that.
As people tried to remove Rivers from the vehicle, the woman who called 911 begged for the paramedics to come quickly.
“Hurry up,” she said. “You have to hurry up.”
Thomas Maddox, one of several people who pulled Rivers from the car, was grilling when the vehicle exploded.
“I saw a young man in a car and I saw a life in that car, and I helped that life get out of that car because that car was catching on fire,” he said. “I pray that he’s okay and I pray that everyone who was injured was okay.”
Maddox said the explosion was so loud that it sounded more like a bomb going off than fireworks. A skylight on the vehicle flew off in the explosion, striking Maddox’s vehicle, which set off the airbags inside and knocked off his rearview mirror.
The explosion also damaged nearby homes and knocked down a power line to one house.
Maddox didn’t know the victim, but other people at the party were friends with him. He said the incident was a horrific accident.
“It’s just a mishap that happened and that was it,” he said. “There was nothing targeted. We’re not in a war. It was an accident.”
Police called in the Dayton bomb squad to help with the investigation and towed the vehicle that exploded and a white van parked nearby. They said that the van was filled with fireworks and there may have been additional professional grade fireworks in the vehicle Rivers was driving.
“If it does turn out to be fireworks … fireworks are extremely dangerous,” Hall said. “They need to be handled with respect and they need to be handled professionally. Every year there are multiple injuries related to fireworks in the region.”
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