Explosion rips open man's legsPolice say trick at party backfired
By MAURA SATCHELL
msatchell@dnj.comA party trick gone awry Saturday caused an explosion that ripped open the legs of the host and was so loud neighbors thought it was a blown transformer, police said.
John Winkler, 28, suffered serious injuries in the explosion at his River Rock Boulevard home and was still in the hospital Sunday after a glass container blew up on his legs. Murfreesboro Fire Department and police were called to the home just before 9 p.m.
"The call came out as a hazardous materials call," said Murfreesboro Police Officer Scott Newberg, who was dispatched to the scene at 8:56 p.m.
Newberg and his partner Mark Wood found Winkler with serious injuries, mainly to the thighs.
"He had muscle and tendon out of it and had lost a lot of blood," said Newberg.
Winkler sat cradling a large glass container, filled it with rubbing alcohol, added compressed air and lit it, "which essentially turned it into a bomb, and the glass basically ripped his legs wide open," Newberg said.
Winkler, an MTSU student, was hospitalized Sunday at Middle Tennessee Medical Center on the third floor, but hospital authorities declined to disclose his condition.
Another partygoer, Shawn Cohan, 31, of Lake in the Hills, Ill., also was taken to MTMC but was released.
They were celebrating a birthday, Newberg said, and there were no minors but "plenty of alcohol" at the party held by John and Jenny Winkler.
Evidence of the party still remained Sunday in the trash bags in the driveway of the tidy two-story white home with green shutters at 1315 River Rock Blvd. A partying mind-set was illustrated by a car parked out front with a bumper sticker that read "Stoner Chicks Rule."
Originally published April 11, 2005
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