Father of Swampscott teen hurt in fireworks blast sues store

SWAMPSCOTT – The father of a middle school student who blew off two of his fingers by a homemade bomb in his Melvin Avenue home in 2008 has filed a lawsuit against the local convenience store that sold his son the fireworks.Bernard Surette, guardian of his son, Joel, of 92 Melvin Ave., Swampscott, filed the two-count legal action Friday in Salem Superior Court, naming Dee’s Corner Convenience Store, located at 37 Essex St., Swampscott, Dee’s Corner, LLC, with its principal business at 33 Great Road in Shirley, as well as importer and distributor of fireworks, Panaria International, Inc., 17 West 29th St., New York, N.Y.The lawsuit states on May 1, 2008 at approximately 5 p.m., 13-year-old Joel Surette detonated an explosion in the kitchen at their Melvin Avenue home.The explosion resulted in the amputation of tips of the middle and ring fingers on his right hand. The boy was taken by ambulance to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston where he received treatment.Detectives determined the teenager had taken powder from about 100 caps used in cap guns and powder from snap poppers, which explode when thrown onto a hard surface, which he combined and placed inside a cardboard tube and then secured it with duct tape and set off the homemade bomb.No one else was hurt during the explosion.His then 17-year-old brother, Michael, who called 911, reportedly said he was “screaming for five minutes,” then said “I can’t believe I blew off my fingers.”An investigation was conducted by authorities which led to charges being sought against the owner of Dee’s Corner store and Joel Surette, but the charges against Joel were subsequently dropped, according to the suit.The complaint maintains that the boy for several months had been purchasing “mighty poppers” and other class C fireworks from Dee’s Corner store. Two clerks, an older man and an older woman, sold the items to the youth, who are believed to be related to the owner of Dee’s Corner Store, the suit says. The suit maintains that the older women pointed out to Joel that the fireworks were illegal in Massachusetts and contained .75 or more explosive grains, which is two times more than the .25 grains of explosive materials allowed in such items in Massachusetts.The lawsuit accuses the store of failing to exercise reasonable care in the dissemination of Class C fireworks and that the store used the fact that the items were illegal as a sales pitch to sell the items to Joel.Panaria is accused of failing to properly label the fireworks, which only contributed to make the sale of the fireworks attractive to the teenager.Surette also maintains that the store should have known Joel might combine the illegal Class C fireworks into more explosive items which could result in grievous harm or injury to him or others.As a result of the breach of duty as well as Panaria’s lack of warning on the label, Joel sustained severe injuries including permanent disfiguring as well as emotional injuries.The court documents list a total estimate of $170,000 in medical, hospital, therapy expenses and anticipated future medical and hospital expenses.Attorney Patricia A.Q. Mazur of Wakefield filed the litigation on behalf of Surette.Mazur has asked the court for a jury trial to determine a just and proper amount of monetary damages.