Texas man dies after e-cigarette explodes in mouth
William Brown's death marks the second recent death from an exploding e-cigarette among thousands of injuries and burns. The person and the device in the photo are unrelated to the story. gettyimagesbank
By Jung Min-ho
A Texas man has died from serious injuries after the e-cigarette he was using exploded in his mouth.
According to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner, William Brown, 24, died at a Fort Worth hospital on Jan. 29 (local time) after shards of metal from the exploding device dissected his left carotid artery.
The explosion happened in the parking lot of a vape shop near Beach and Golden Triangle in Fort Worth.
Brown reportedly did not buy anything, but wanted help using a Mechanical Mod style vape pen ― a model known to have issues.
“When they X-rayed him, they found the stem, the metal embedded where the blood flows up to the brain,” Brown's grandmother, Alice Brown, told
.
“I miss him already, and knowing he won't open that door and come through it ever again is the hardest part.”
According to the U.S. Fire Administration, there were nearly 200 separate e-cigarette fires and explosions reported by the media in the United States between 2009 and 2016.
In May 2018, a Florida man, 38, was killed in a similar incident.
The autopsy report showed the projectile that killed him was from an e-cigarette made by Smok-E Mountain.