14 DAY TRIAL // Read any battery label out there you’ll find at least one warning that all of them have in common: “do not puncture.” While this should be common knowledge amongst civilized people, apparently it has to be stenciled there to remind people of the dangers posed by a damaged battery cell.
However, nothing can prepare you for the day when your phone bends in your pocket, punctures its own battery, and catches fire. Whatever precautions you take while using your phone, nothing will prevent this from happening.
How it all went down
Phillip Lechter and his family went to Tucson, Arizona, to attend a football game earlier this month. As they were walking to a tailgate party, the family noticed two rickshaws and decided to rent them, divide the group evenly, and ride them to the party.
“We didn’t get much more than a block down the road when the driver/biker caught a trolley track in the road and lost balance,” Lechter recounts his story. “He feel [sic] over causing the rickshaw to tip over to the left. Fortunately, the rickshaw didn’t tip all the way over, and we were not thrown out.”
“I was half on, half off the rickshaw as I was sitting on the left side of the seat,” he continues. “I immediately checked my wife and son to make sure they were ok. While I was looking at them, I felt a burning sensation on my leg and then saw and smelled smoke from my pants.”
Lechter had no idea what was going on. Instead of reaching inside his pocket, his first instinct was to look around for anything that could have set him on fire.
“Then it hit me, my phone was in my pocket. Somehow in the process of the tipping of the rickshaw my new APPLE iPhone 6 had bent in my front pocket and caught on fire,” he writes.
The cause of the fire was the battery inside the phone. It had gotten punctured as a result of the severe bending.
“The smell was disturbing. I could feel my leg burning. I pulled the Apple iPhone 6 out of my pocket and threw it to the side. Someone from a crowd of spectators threw a cup of water on my leg to put the fire out on my jeans,” Lechter says.
1st and 2nd-degree burns
His physician told him his leg was severely burnt. Not that we couldn’t tell for ourselves from the pictures (which I strongly advise to see at your own discretion).
“The Doctor’s report described a 11.5 cm x 10.5 cm burn area on my right leg and classified the burn as 2nd degree with first degree burns surrounding the area. According to the Doctor, the burn will require cleanliness, antibiotics and pain management for treatment. In the days since the event… include interruptions to my business, workout, and family life and the ‘freak out’ factor for all involved,” Lechter concluded.
Classic lawsuit scenario.
