It seems the potential pain of the injury suffered by New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul as a result of a fourth of July fireworks mishap could go beyond the merely physical. Per the latest report, from NJ.com's Jordan Raanan, Pierre-Paul may wind up facing charges as a result of setting off illegal fireworks in Florida, where nearly all explosive projectiles are banned.
"The Coral Springs (Fla.) Police Department has launched an investigation into the fireworks accident that injured Jason Pierre-Paul, and depending on the information they gather, the Giants defensive end could face charges that include criminal possession of fireworks, Coral Springs Public Information Officer Capt. Brad McKeon told NJ Advance Media on Tuesday."
Raanan points to an article from Brian Ballou of The South Florida Sun-Sentinel wherein Mike Jachles, a spokesperson for Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue, says simply that, "anything that becomes airborne or explodes is illegal to use."
As ESPN's Adam Schefter noted in the wake of Raanan's report, JPP would be subject to NFL discipline were the Coral Springs Police to charge him with a crime stemming from the incident.
Still, it sounds like things are just in the exploratory stage for the Coral Springs PD at this point.
"McKeon said police wanted to 'gather the facts' on 'what specific fireworks he had,'" writes Raanan. "He said Coral Springs police have reached out to Pierre-Paul and Relativity Sports, the agency that represents him, to arrange a meeting."
Giants representatives were reportedly dispatched to Florida on Tuesday to check in on Pierre-Paul and assess the extent of his injuries. There's been no word yet as to what they've found, though HNGN passed along a report earlier Tuesday indicating that Pierre-Paul "dodged a bullet" in terms of the overall injury, meaning he did not lose any fingers and his career is not in jeopardy, but that the severity and singular nature of his injury meant he was likely to be placed on the non-football injury list by the team and thus was "likely" to miss the first six games of the 2015 NFL season.
The potential charges he may now face only serve to confuse the situation further.
"McKeon said police are not certain the accident happened in Coral Springs, where Pierre-Paul was believed to have been earlier in the night. But if Pierre-Paul had the fireworks there, he still could face charges. The Coral Springs police have been in contact with authorities from surrounding cities," writes Raanan.
"Police believe fireworks might have been discharged at a Coral Springs home belonging to a relative of Pierre-Paul. McKeon said police received a complaint from a resident who lives down the street from the relative's home. They are looking into whether the complaint and the incident are related."
UPDATE, 5:15 PM: Per Raanan, Coral Springs PD have determined that the incident in question occured outside of their jurisdiction and thus they will not be pursuing charges against Pierre-Paul.
