Vape Pen Explosion Killed Texas Man, Says Medical Examiner

Daryl Cura demonstrates an e-cigarette at Vape store in Chicago, on April 23, 2014. The federal government wants to ban sales of electronic cigarettes to minors and require approval for new products and health warning labels under regulations being proposed by the Food and Drug Administration. Nam Y. Huh/AP Photo

The explosion from a vape pen killed a 24-year-old Texas man, concluded a medical examiner’s report. the pen fired shrapnel into his neck, severing a major artery.

William Eric Brown died on Jan. 29 from a stroke caused by the severed artery, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner said, according to local reports.

Brown’s grandmother, Alice Brown said he had borrowed her car on Jan. 27 to run errands when he stopped off at a vape store in Keller. Back in the car, he started it up the device in the parking lot.

“He popped it and it exploded, and that’s when it shot across his mouth,” she told WFAA. 

The battery had exploded, she said.

His grandmother said the battery had melted plastic in her car, which was covered in blood.

The 24-year-old managed to get out of the car and find help. He was rushed to the hospital but died two days after being admitted.

A Vape lab uses an e-cigarette while working on Aug. 27, 2014, in London. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

“When they x-rayed him, they found the stem, the metal embedded to where the blood flows up to the brain,” Alice Brown said.  “I miss him already, and knowing he won’t open that door and come through it ever again is the hardest part.”

133 Injuries From Explosions and Fires

According to his grandmother, Brown bought the device at the Smoke and Vape DZ store. But the store told CBS11 that he hadn’t bought anything, and wanted help using a Mechanical Mod style vape pen.

Brown’s death appears to be the second death caused by vaping devices or e-cigarettes in the United States.

A FEMA report published in 2017 listed 195 incidents of explosions or fires caused by e-cigarettes between January 2009 and December 2016. Of those cases, 133 people were injured, 38 of them severely.

At the time, there were no reports of deaths from e-cigarettes.

That changed in May 2018, when a 38-year-old man in Florida died after a vape pen exploded in his face, shooting parts of the pen into his brain and setting his house of fire.

Firefighters found him with severe facial injuries and with burns to 80 percent of his body.

Firefighters could not determine the cause of death, but the Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner’s report made it clear that two pieces of the smoking device had penetrated his cranium, resulting in his death.

St. Pete Fire Rescue Deputy Marshal Steven Lawrence told Fox, “We do have cases where the vape pens have exploded and they have caused fires.

“That’s one of the reasons we don’t allow them at special events or any type of indoor facilities, just because they are dangerous and hazardous,” Lawrence said.

Explosion Caught on Video

A 21-year-old man from Louisiana, Mailan Krein, had his jaw broken in several places in November 2018, when a vape pen called VGod exploded in his face, according to Fox.

A man was hospitalized after a vape pen exploded, leaving him with a shattered jaw on Nov. 15, 2018. Fox News

When he began inhaling from the pen, it was like “a shotgun that went off in his mouth,” said his mother, reported Fox News.

“It’s still shocking to me talking about it. I’m visualizing what my son is going through. He has several years to reconstruct his mouth.”

The family said that they were hiring a lawyer.

The moment an e-cigarette exploded into flames in a man’s pocket was caught on camera in California last year.

Mohamad Zayid Abdihdy, 24, was examining televisions at the HDTV Outlet store in Anaheim, when he felt something odd in his front pants pocket.

Mohamad Zayid Abdihdy was checking out a TV when his e-cigarette exploded in his pants pocket. Mohamad Zayid Abdihdy was checking out a TV when his e-cigarette exploded in his pants pocket. (Screenshot/HDTV Outlet Anaheim via Storyful)Screenshot/HDTV Outlet Anaheim via Storyful

His e-cigarette first shocked him, then exploded into sparks and flame.

Agdihdy yanked the flaming device out of his pocket, dropped it to the floor, and sprinted for the store’s restroom to attend to his burns.