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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
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Practical Joke Explodes|in Canadian Mountie’s Face

VANCOUVER, B.C. (CN) - An explosives disposal specialist with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police claims he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after a practical joke by two colleagues literally blew up in his face.

Tyrone Hempston sued the two pranksters, Canada's attorney general, and the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General of British Columbia in B.C. Supreme Court.

Hempston says he suffered grievous injuries after a doll packed with explosives detonated in his hands at his desk at the RCMP's explosives disposal unit in Delta, B.C.

He claims defendants Nigel Blake and Martin Simpson packed a doll he kept on his desk with what they thought were "squibs," a weak explosive used by the film industry. But Hempston says the squibs were labeled incorrectly and were actually high-explosive SD-100 detonators that had been confiscated and never disposed of, against policy.

"The defendants Blake and Simpson conspired to shock the plaintiff by placing an SD-100 inside a 'Dirty Bertie' mechanical doll that was owned by the plaintiff and was kept on his desk," the complaint states. "They then replaced the doll on his desk with the intent that he would pick up the doll and cause the SD-100 to explode."

Both squibs and SD-100s are "dangerous explosives that should not be used for recreation," according to the complaint, and defendants knew that "their actions were in violation of the unit's zero horseplay policy."

Hempston says he returned to his desk to find that someone had tampered with the doll, and it exploded in his lap when he turned it on.

He now requires hearing aids and suffers from severe hand and wrist problems and has regular therapy sessions to deal with chronic post-traumatic stress disorder.

Hempston is represented by Walter Kosteckyj with Kosteckyj & Parhar, of Vancouver.

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