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- A 3-year-old in the Bronx was left with burns and stitches to his head after fireworks shot through their top floor apartment window.
- The young child was awakened by what seemed like non-stop fireworks -- an emerging issue in New York City and the rest of the tri-state over the past few weeks. Suddenly, one blew through his window
- The harrowing moment when the fireworks zipped through their apartment window was captured on video by the child's teenage sister: a flash is seen on video followed immediately by screams.
A 3-year-old in the Bronx was left with burns and stitches to his head after fireworks shot through his family's top floor apartment window overnight.
The young child was awakened by what seemed like non-stop fireworks -- an emerging issue in New York City and the rest of the tri-state over the past few weeks. Suddenly, one of these fireworks sailed up and crashed through the window of the family's sixth-floor apartment.
The harrowing moment when the fireworks zipped through their apartment window was captured on video by the child's teenage sister: a flash is seen on video followed immediately by screams. The teenager initially started filming people on the street below setting off a box of fireworks that kept her from sleeping.
The child's father, who did not want to go on camera, tells NBC 4 New York people are lighting up fireworks in the neighborhood constantly.
In this instance, he says he was asleep when he was awakened by what he thought was gunfire-then heard his young son screaming.
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Photos provided by the child's father to News 4 shows the toddler with burns to his arms and stitches on his head. According to NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison, the shell blew apart and left lacerations to the child's arm, while also causing first and second degree burns.
According to the father, even taking his child to seek medical attention was stalled since he couldn’t even rush his child to the hospital in his car because their car was blocked by a box of fireworks that was tipped over and was shooting in the direction of the vehicle.
The superintendent of the building says he heard it all, adding the "firecrackers wake up the whole building."
The streets around the area are littered with fireworks debris and boxes that were packed with them.
The child's injuries come as the entire tri-state area is dealing with an uptick in illegal fireworks -- even prompting Mayor Bill de Blasio to organize an illegal fireworks task force.
Police say they are searching for individuals described as a group of four to five men who were last seen retrieving fireworks from a gray 4-door Ford Fusion sedan with Pennsylvania license plates.
Unrelated to the injured child, the NYPD said later Wednesday that officers with the Intelligence Bureau arrested 12 people in the Bronx for possessing fireworks, two assault rifles and a handgun.
