CHICAGO (WCMH/MEDIA GENERAL) – A nurse from Chicago got a rude awakening Thursday, a few hours after a man blew off his hand with a firecracker.
Cheri Steigert tells WBBM-TV that she was asleep after an overnight shift when she heard an explosion and a scream in her Portage Park neighborhood in Chicago on Thursday afternoon.
A few hours later, Steigert said she let her dog out in the yard. A few minutes later, the dog walked up to her with a hand in its mouth.
“This is like the first Fourth of July that I had off in three years and I have body parts flying in my yard,” Steigert told WBBM.
The victim was identified as 39-year-old Rafat Shejaeya. According to a report from WLS-TV, Shejaeya is a barber. Thanks to Steigert’s dog, Shejaeya may recover some use of his hand, but is unsure if he will be able to return to cutting hair.
Police say Shejaeya had the equivalent of a half-stick of dynamite explode near him. Steigert lives about 250 feet from where the accident happened.
— WCMH contributed to this story.
