Man suffers third-degree burns after phone exploded in his pocket

A 29-year-old old man suffered third degree burns after his iPhone exploded in his pocket.

Erick Johnson had just parked his car and was about to head inside with his brother to attend their cousin’s wake when he accidentally dropped his keys. As Johnson bent over to retrieve them, he heard a 'pop' sound in his pocket, where his iPhone 5c was. Suddenly, he began to feel his leg burning.

“He panicked. Started ripping off his pants,” Johnson’s lawyer, Mike Della, said. “His brother ran over and he said he could smell the flesh burning.”

Johnson was taken to the hospital, where he spent the next 10 days recovering from a third degree burn that went to the top of his thigh. Della said the burn was 'about the size of a football.' The iPhone was warped, and part of its casing melted in the explosion.

“What makes it even worse is that he had to miss his cousin’s wake, his funeral,” Della said. “He couldn’t be there with his family.”

According to Della, nothing out of the ordinary was happening with the phone when it exploded. Even though Johnson was bent over, Della said the phone was not bent or strained at all.

Johnson is now recovering in his home, and Della is working on his behalf to make things right. He has reached out to Apple but has yet to hear back, and plans to file a complaint with the company.

“Even if this only happened this one time, that’s one time too many,” Della said. “What if this happened to a child?”