Illegal Fireworks May Cost 12-Year-Old Girl Her Eyesight

A front yard family gathering turned ugly last night in South Los Angeles, when a 12-year-old girl using a sparkler to celebrate the 4th of July was impaled in the eye with a "firecracker -like device" discharged by someone else in the area. Both the sparkler and the firecracker are illegal in Los Angeles, note the Los Angeles Fire Department, who responded to the incident.

The young girl's injuries were concentrated on her face and eyes; she was taken to Children's Hospital Los Angeles where doctors were working to save her eyesight.

The Los Angeles Police Department say they will investigate the circumstances surrounding the firecracker's discharge and the girl's severe eye injury.