CHICAGO _ The left hand of a 5-year-old boy was severed after a fireworks accident Wednesday night in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood and his father had been charged with child endangerment, police said.
It happened shortly before 7 p.m. in the 5600 block of South May Street after the boy's 37-year-old father lit a sparkler and handed it to his son while "other fireworks were in the area," according to a police report.
The father heard an explosion, turned around and saw blood seeping from his son's left hand.
Police officers who were called to the scene applied a tourniquet and paramedics rushed the child to Comer Children's Hospital, where a doctor said they were unable to save the boy's hand, the report said.
Cardiel Phillips, of the same block where the incident happened, was charged with misdemeanor child endangerment and cited with a city code violation of the sale, use or explosion of fireworks, said Maggie Huynh, a police spokeswoman.
Area South detectives were investigating.
