By Kristen Consillio
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HONOLULU (KITV) — Nelson Benigno is struggling every day to cope with the devastating Aliamanu fireworks explosion that took the lives of his family on New Year’s Eve.
“Every single day and night like I said I’m having difficulty sleeping at night, sometimes I dream about my wife,” he said. “We didn’t say goodbye to each other.”
He was out of town when illegal fireworks killed four of his family members, including his wife Carmelita and his three-year-old grandson, Cassius.
“In this tragedy I lost my my wife, my sister-in-law, my grandson, my daughter-in-law and my daughter Charmaine is still recovering,” Benigno said.
The massive explosion took the lives of six people and severely injured a dozen others.
That’s the reason Gov. Josh Green signed legislation to crackdown on illegal fireworks once and for all.
Six months after the deadliest fireworks explosion in Hawaii history, Gov. Josh Green is coming down hard on illegal fireworks with new laws and harsher punishment.
People will now face criminal penalties for setting off illegal fireworks within 500 feet of a dwelling — punishable by up to one year in jail or up to $2,000 in fines. And it is now a class A felony if anyone suffers serious injury or death.
“We of course saw what happened on New Year’s Eve, which actually was devastating beyond belief,” said Gov. Josh Green. “So if a firework goes off and you have it illegally, and you blow somebody up honestly you go to jail for 20 years, and no joke so don’t do it. You’re doing it to your family too, the ones you love, they will never see you again.”
Criminal penalties also apply to those who distribute illegal explosives. Law enforcement will now use drones to establish probable cause of illegal activity.
“This past New Year’s Eve showed us just what even moderate amounts of fireworks in the community can do, and there’s not enough sorries or apologies that can reverse the burns or the loss of life that occurred this past year,” said Mike Lambert, director of the Department of Law Enforcement. “Sadly, this tragedy alone has not changed all of the community.”
For Nelson, he’s hoping his family’s tragedy will prevent others from the same fate.
“If I was here I would’ve been one of them,” he said. “The little boy died. He’s just three years old. And the worst part is the son and mom together, and they died. And same thing with my wife and her sister, they died together. They died in that garage at the time the incident. They never make it to the hospital. So would be great if you know the governor do a better job for stop this illegal fireworks so it won’t kill anyone else again.”
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Man recounts family lost in deadly Hawaii fireworks explosion News Channel 3-12.
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