NYC Park Department Employee Lights Firework in Child’s Hand With Dire Consequences

A 24-year-old New York Park Department employee has been arrested after a firework mishap that occurred on August 11, 2026, in General Douglas MacArthur Park on Staten Island. The incident involved what appeared to be an M-80 firework and a 10-year-old girl. The girl was holding the firework at the time of the accident.

According to People, the Park Department employee allegedly lit the firework after the child requested a lighter, leading to a number of injuries for the girl, including the loss of several fingers. The employee has now been charged with reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child.

The employee told an officer, per ABC News, “I didn’t think this would have happened. She wanted the lighter to light a firework; I wanted to make them happy and have fun.”

The M-80 Was Apparently Just Lying Around

The young girl reportedly found the firework either in a park restroom or on the men’s baseball fields. Allegedly, fireworks had been used the night before on the baseball fields by teams playing there, despite the fact that consumer fireworks are banned in every park in the five boroughs.

After finding it, she brought it to a park employee and asked for a lighter. (NBC New York reported that before finding the employee, the girl asked several other adults in the area for a lighter, but they all refused.) At that point, the employee allegedly lit the firework while the child was still holding it, at which point it exploded in her hand.

Nearby bystanders reported hearing a noisy blast before seeing a girl with a bloody hand running away from the area where the bathrooms are. The incident left the girl with what ABC News reported as “catastrophic injuries.” Police were called to the park and applied a tourniquet to the child before transporting her to Staten Island University Hospital.

A family friend told NBC New York, “She’s never going to be the same.”

In addition to the ongoing police investigation, the Park Department is conducting an internal investigation into the employee’s conduct. NYC Parks has claimed that the person who lit the firework was a seasonal aide and not a regular employee.

Significant Consequences for Everyone Involved

The park employee has already been arraigned and granted supervised release.

Meanwhile, the girl is in stable condition, per reporting by ABC News. However, she lost several fingers on her hand. Additionally, a friend of the family said that the child suffered burns and the possible loss of sight in one eye. She was still in the hospital as of August 12, 2026.

A resident of the area told ABC News, “She’s doing well. She’s talking. She’s hurt; she’s confused. And although at 10, people say, ‘oh, she should know better,’ yes, she should know better, but kids are curious and you as an adult should know that sometimes you can’t tend to curiosity. Now this little girl is going to suffer for the rest of her life because of somebody’s carelessness.”

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]