Severed 24-year-old’s left carotid artery, making him 2nd person to die from exploding e-cigarette in a year.
Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters
A 24-year-old Fort Worth man was killed last month after his vape pen exploded in his face, authorities said Monday. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office announced William Brown died after penetrating trauma from an exploding vaporizer pen severed his left carotid artery, the Fort WorthStar-Telegram reports. His grandmother, Alice Brown, told the newspaper he had just purchased the device. He told her on Jan. 27 that “he had to go pick up something… so he told me ‘I’ll be right back, Granny,’” Alice Brown said. “Next thing I know, they called me from the hospital.” She later learned that “when he popped the top of [the pen] it exploded” and “the brass part shot through his neck and lodged back there.” He died in a local hospital two days after the incident, becoming at least the second person to die from an exploding vape device in the past year.
