A 10-year-old girl who blew part of her hand off with a firework at a Staten Island park Tuesday night has lost one finger, and doctors have been working to reconnect the tissue between her thumb and middle finger, according to a close family friend.
“She has to walk around like this for the rest of her life and her hand might not work,” said Tyesha Thomas, who lives in NYCHA’s Berry Houses across the street from Gen. Douglas MacArthur Park. “That’s detrimental to her. At 10 years old — she’s a swimmer, she runs, she plays, she jumps. She’s a kid.”
The NYPD said on Wednesday it had arrested Joshua Moe, a 24-year-old city parks department employee who officials say gave the girl a lighter to set off the explosive. Police said he was charged with reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child in connection with the incident.
Police said they’re still investigating how the child got the firework. A spokesperson for the city parks department said earlier Tuesday that the department is investigating the matter internally.
Thomas said she was among a group of parents from the Berry Houses who were watching the girl and other children in the playground around 6:45 p.m. on Tuesday. She said the girl’s mom had gone to run some errands. Thomas said she and her husband had also briefly left the park to go food shopping, but her adult son remained at the park.
“My son called me… ‘Mom, [the girl] blew her hand up with a firework,’” she recalled.
Jessica Kissler said she was at the park when the incident involving the girl unfolded. Kissler said she had seen the girl moments before the explosion, holding a firework that looked like a large ball.
“She asked me for a lighter, and I said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Give [the firework] to your mother. Your mother will know what to do with it,’” Kissler recalled. Moments later, Kissler said she heard a loud boom near the playground bathrooms and saw the girl running with her hand up, blood streaking down.
“Her fingers was off. You could see her bone and the guts,” Kissler said. “ I ran to get a towel out the car to give it to them.”
Police officers responded and applied a tourniquet to the girl’s hand before EMS workers took her to Staten Island University Hospital North, according to the NYPD.
Thomas said she spoke to the girl on the phone shortly after the incident.
“I couldn’t even get the words out, but I’m listening to her and she’s saying, ‘I’m sorry, Miss Tyesha. I’m sorry,’ Because I always say, ‘Be your best self,’” she said.
This is a developing story and may be updated.