An explosion in a high school chemistry class engulfed student Alonzo Yanes in a fireball, burning over 50 percent of his body.
The accident happened in January of 2014, and the student says he looked like a creature from a horror movie. Yanes told Inside Edition:
“I remember feeling this immense heat completely come forward and wrap around my entire body. I remember these flashes of blue and orange just flying toward my face. I remember feeling this burning sensation around my head.”1
The botched chemistry experiment happened at Beacon High School in Manhattan when Yanes was sixteen years old.
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His teacher was conducting the “Rainbow Experiment,” a popular experiment because it demonstrates how igniting differents salts can produce different colored flames.
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Yanes was standing just a couple of feet away from the experiment. As the teacher poured a highly flammable substance into a bowl of nitrate, it caused the explosion. Yanes dropped to the floor and rolled around to put the flames out, as he was crying for help.
The student and his parents ultimately sued the teacher and the New York City Department of Education.
His lawyer played a demonstration of the catastrophe in court. When the flammable liquid exploded, the flames reached as far as 10 feet.
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Yanes underwent numerous painful surgeries and spent five months in the hospital. He said:
“As funny as it sounds, I kinda looked like something out of a horror movie.”1
A jury awarded Yanes close to $60 million this summer. His attorney, Ben Rubinowitz, said the lawsuit wasn’t about the money – it was about making classrooms safer for all students so this doesn’t happen again, adding:
“If the teacher is going to undertake a demonstration like this, you have got to take precautions, you have got to take safety measures.”1
