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Man Dies After Vape Pen Explodes 'Moments After Buying It'

Man Dies After Vape Pen Explodes 'Moments After Buying It'

The young man was taken to hospital and died two days later

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers

A 24-year-old man has died after his e-cigarette exploded in his face, severing a major artery.

William Brown, from Fort Worth, Texas, was using the vape while in his car outside the Smoke and Vape DZ store last month, just moments after buying the device, says his grandmother.

According to reports, the explosion caused shrapnel to enter his neck and sever the carotid artery, which cut off blood to his brain, killing him.

It was apparently the first time the young man had ever used an e-cigarette.

Mr Brown is believed to have tried to crawl out of his car to signal for help before collapsing on the pavement. He was then taken to John Peter Smith Hospital, where he was sadly declared dead two days later.

According to the Tarrant County medical examiner, the electrician's cause of death was listed as 'penetrating trauma from exploding vaporiser pen'.

Mr Brown's grandmother, Alice Brown, spoke to press about the pain caused by his death and says he didn't usually smoke, but had bought the vape pen after he was told it could help ease his asthma.

According to his grandmother, the 24-year-old had only bought the e-cigarette moments before it exploded.
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She told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: "It just hurts so bad, now he'll never see that birthday. It's a waste of the things he could have accomplished.

"It just all seems so unreal. He was running around doing his thing at 24 and now he's gone."

Mrs Brown also revealed that investigators told her the explosion was caused by the battery.

She told local news that she had to go through her car, which was covered in her grandson's blood, to find the missing pieces of the destroyed pen. Luckily she says she managed to retrieve the battery with the serial number.

Mrs Brown said: "That's the important part. That's what the investigator said he needed. ... I just hope, if anything, I hope it stops someone from (smoking electronic cigarettes). I don't know how many more people will have to die."

According to Dallas News, a staff member at the vape store denied that Mr Brown bought his device from the shop.

A new study from the American Heart Foundation recently claimed that using e-cigarettes could raise the risk of heart attacks, strokes, or developing heart disease.

One in 20 adults in the US is reported to vape, and according to the research vaping could increase their chances of suffering a heart attack by almost 60 percent.

People who smoke e-cigarettes are also 71 percent more likely to have a stroke, the study claims.

This latest piece of research, which surveyed 400,000 people, shows a link between using e-cigarettes and blood clots forming in the body, it is claimed.

Featured Image Credit: Facebook

Topics: World News, Interesting, US News, Health