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Posted: Feb. 2, 2010

Man, 62, is burned in rocket sled stunt

BY BILL LAITNER

DETROIT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

A 62-year-old Independence Township man remained hospitalized Monday with injuries he sustained after authorities said a rocket-like backpack he rigged to power him on a sled exploded.

Oakland County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to a backyard sledding party in the 6000 block of Townview at 7:35 p.m. Sunday to aid the host, who had burns over 18% of his body, Undersheriff Mike McCabe said.

"Apparently, he has this sledding party every year, and he always does outrageous things at it, but he's never blown himself up before," McCabe said Monday.

The man had been drinking before the accident, McCabe said. The man constructed the backpack from a used auto muffler, which he filled with gasoline and gunpowder, McCabe said. Wearing a motorcycle helmet, he got on an orange plastic sled. "He asked another person to light a wick and then began to sled down a hill. At some point during the ride, the device exploded," McCabe said. The man, whom McCabe would not identify, suffered second-degree burns to his face and right side of his body, and possible eye damage.