A California man is facing criminal charges nearly a year after police say an illegal Fourth of July fireworks explosion killed an 8-year-old girl as her family watched.
Earl Decastro, 47, was charged Wednesday with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the fatal malfunction of a fireworks display that killed 8-year-old Jasmine Nguyen during a neighborhood Independence Day gathering in Buena Park last year.
According to the Orange County Prosecutors Office, Jasmine, her mother and her 7-year-old sister were seated in Decastro’s driveway while he launched fireworks from the street for more than an hour.
Prosecutors said Decastro’s finale involved lighting an illegal $400 “cake” firework containing professional-grade explosives that require a permit to purchase or use. The device allegedly malfunctioned, shooting mortar shells into the driveway and forcing terrified guests to flee into DeCastro’s home.
“It happened so quick. A fun day of friends turns into a nightmare,” Jasmine’s mother, Haley Nguyen, told the Orange County Register last week. “Some people were bleeding through their shoes.”
Jasmine had been sitting beside her family near a table holding additional unused fireworks, which also caught fire during the chaos. She was critically injured before she could get inside the house and was taken to the University of California Irvine Medical Center, where she later died.
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“I didn’t expect that she would be gone,” Nguyen, who was also hit by a firework in the blast, told the Register. “I couldn’t do anything. I sat for months.
“I can’t hug her or hear her voice,” Nguyen said. “It’s a lot quieter.”
Despite her crippling grief, the mother had said that she did not want to see Decastro charged.
“I’m not pushing for any charges,” Haley Nguyen said. “It really was an accident.”
But prosecutors disagreed and Decastro was charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter, recklessly setting fire causing great bodily injury and possession of over 100 pounds of illegal fireworks.
It was not immediately clear why it took a year for charges to be filed against Decastro, who faces up to six years in prison if convicted.
“There is nothing accidental about buying and lighting illegal fireworks,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement.
“An eight-year-old little girl is dead and the man who killed her is going to be held responsible. A few seconds of fun is not worth a lifetime of trauma and the loss of a beautiful little girl who never had the chance to grow up,” he added.
