Point Reyes Light - September 16, 2004

Explosion on Bolinas Beach rips into resident

By Jim Kravets

A Bolinas resident was recovering this week from surgery necessitated after a powerful firecracker exploded in his lap while he sat on Brighton Beach at 3:30 p.m. Labor Day.

The victim, Jim Brogan, 63, said he was sitting against the beach’s seawall when he was suddenly "engulfed in an explosion that blew off my back brace and tattered my shirt and shorts."

Bolinas residents would later say the explosion was heard downtown on the other side of the Little Mesa.

Flushed with adrenaline and unaware of his injuries, Brogan jumped up and confronted a group of about a dozen young people on top of the seawall 20 yards south of where he had been sitting.

"I thought I was being teased by having firecrackers thrown at me," Brogan said. He asked the group, "Why are you doing this? What can you possibly be thinking?"

The group apparently had not seen Brogan resting his back against the wall when one of them tossed the firecracker, which deputies have described as an M-80, which is illegal nationwide. Brogan told The Light one of the group responded to his questions: "What were you doing there?"

Brogan at this point became fully aware of his injuries: including a gaping hole in his left thigh that exposed muscle and bone. "I [then] had to shut up and get some help," Brogan said. The group that threw the firecracker did not move to help him.

Brogan recalled seeing another group of about 20 further south, but said that as he limped away bleeding profusely, "not a single person offered to help." He struggled the 300 yards to the beach entrance and encountered a sheriff’s deputy who called an ambulance. Brogan recalled that while he waited for help, "the sweetest words I ever heard were, ‘Cancel the helicopter.’"

Brogan spent the next 48 hours at Marin General Hospital where he underwent surgery for his extensive injuries. In addition to treating severe wounds to both of Brogan’s thighs, surgeons removed plastic-like shrapnel embedded throughout his body. They also treated him for third-degree burns.

"The device was incendiary," said Brogan, "so the wounds were self-cauterizing and there was not much blood."

Ear drums punctured

The explosion also perforated both of Brogan’s eardrums and his hearing is now about 60 percent of normal. Doctors expect Brogan’s full hearing will return in time. Doctors said the back brace he was wearing and the way he was sitting probably protected Brogan’s intestines and genitals.

The pyrotechnic device was likely an "M-80," Sheriff’s Lt. Scott Anderson, commander of the Point Reyes Sheriff’s Substation, told The Light.

Federal law mandates that firecrackers sold to the public contain 50 milligrams or less of pyrotechnic material. An M-80 has about 50 times that amount and is illegal throughout the United States but is available on the black market.

Continuing pain

Brogan on Tuesday said he remains in tremendous pain, but added: "Doctors and nurses have changed their attitude toward painkillers, I’m happy to report." His wounds have to be dressed two times per day. On Tuesday Brogan visited a plastic surgeon in order to be fitted with a "vac" machine which will hopefully assist in healing the billiard-ball-sized hole in his thigh. Brogan may also need a skin graft.

Brogan is a professor of English Literature at San Francisco State University. Even with medical insurance, he will be left to personally pay about $40,000 in medical bills, Brogan said.

Lt. Anderson on Tuesday said that Brogan may receive some financial help from the State Victim Compensation Program, which is administered by the County District Attorney’s Office. The program was established in 1965 to help victims of violent crime and their families afterward deal with the emotional, physical, and financial difficulties. The program is funded with fines and fees paid by offenders, not with public tax money.

No witness has spoken out

Despite the spectacular explosion that occurred on a beach that was especially crowded because it was a holiday, Lt. Anderson said, "nobody has come forward with any information." Although the hunt for the culprit is continuing, "currently we have nothing,’ the substation commander told The Light Tuesday.

Lt. Anderson said that possession and detonation of an M-80 is a misdemeanor, but the resulting injury to Brogan could justify a felony charge of assault with a deadly weapon. "The District Attorney may charge it differently based on information obtained during the investigation," Anderson noted.

"If the responsible person comes forward on his own accord, it could mitigate the penalties," he added.

Brogan said that days later he returned to the spot on top of the seawall where the group had been standing and confirmed the group could not see the spot where he was sitting. "That made me feel better," the victim noted. "I don’t believe it was an intentional act."

Description of suspect

Brogan describes the group on the seawall as being in their late teens to early 20’s. Brogan described the man who spoke to him as 5-feet, 11-inches tall with dark hair and a pale complexion.

A reward is being offered through Crime Stoppers Of Marin of up to $1,000 for information as to the identity of whomever was responsible for throwing the M-80. People with information can call the deputy in charge of the investigation, Rich Sheldon, at 446-4418 or Crime Stoppers at 472-2746 (497-3754 in Spanish). Callers may remain anonymous.

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