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Artavis Walker and Antonio Robinson
of Melbourne were the best of friends since they were
boys, and with $500 in fireworks in the back seat of
their car, they set out to have some fun.
As they cruised down Carver Street on
Monday night, they tossed lighted fireworks from the
car.
But the fun turned deadly when a spark
from a cigarette or one of the fireworks apparently
ignited the entire collection of bottle-rocket- and
M-80-type fireworks, setting their Toyota Corolla ablaze,
authorities said.
Robinson, 27, was able to jump from
the car a few blocks before it crashed into a light
pole at Walker Street.
But Walker, 23, who was driving, couldn't
escape until after the crash. He suffered burns on 90
percent of his body and died at Orlando Regional Medical
Center on Tuesday morning.
"He [Walker] was on fire while
he was running," said Assistant Fire Chief Greg
Anglin of the Melbourne Fire Department. "Somebody
had to tackle him and hose him down."
A passer-by had taken Robinson to Holmes
Regional Medical Center in Melbourne but he was later
transferred to ORMC, where he is in critical but stable
condition. He was burned on 40 to 50 percent of his
body, Melbourne police Sgt. Sean Riordan said.
 When
firefighters and police arrived at the scene, the car
was engulfed in flames and fireworks were still shooting
from it.
Before Walker was taken to the hospital
by ambulance, police say, one of his first thoughts
was of his friend.
"He told the officer, 'The other
guy is burned worse than I am,' " Riordan said.
But while Robinson's mother was sitting
by her son's bedside Tuesday at the hospital, Walker's
family was making funeral arrangements.
Yashica Walker said her brother was
a fun-loving guy who took pride in himself. He always
looked "clean and sharp," she said. He has
five sisters, including a twin, and four brothers.
"They were having fun. It was a
freak accident," she said.
Walker, called "Tay-Tay" by
friends and family, loved to entertain his nieces, nephews
and his 2-year-old daughter, Tamya. The fireworks would
have done the trick for the upcoming Independence Day
holiday, his sister said.
The only thing left of the car was the
metal shell, though investigators found remnants of
the fireworks inside, Anglin said.
"They didn't look like the typical
kind of fireworks you buy from a fireworks stand,"
he said. "These were larger fireworks, something
like M-80s." |
