Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks dies from fireworks accident

[pwaldo]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-accident.html

A medical examiner in Michigan says an autopsy has determined that Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks died of chest trauma from an errant fireworks mortar blast, and not a fall as police previously reported.

A spokesperson for the Oakland County (Michigan) medical examiner's office told DailyMail.com that the official cause of death is 'fireworks mortar blast chest trauma.'

Police in Novi, Michigan said the mortar-style firework tilted slightly after the fuse was lit and started to fire toward people nearby on Sunday night. The 24-year-old Kivlenieks was in a hot tub at the private residence and tried to get clear with several other people, police lieutenant Jason Meier said.

Prior to the autopsy, police said Kivlenieks was believed to have slipped and hit his head on concrete while running from a malfunctioning firework.

'At the moment, we're pretty certain this was a tragic accident,' Meier said.

Kivlenieks was in the Detroit area for the wedding of an unidentified coach's daughter, a source familiar with the matter told DailyMail.com. Witnesses saw a firework strike Kivlenieks directly in the chest as he attempted to run out of the hot tub, causing him to fall. However, the impact in his chest is believed to have caused his death.

The fire department and EMTs got to the private home about 10:13pm on Sunday night. Kivlenieks is said to have told one teammate not to get into the ambulance with him.

'[Kivlenieks] didn't want him to have to see that,' Kivlenieks's agent Jay Grossman told DailyMail.com

EMTs took him to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Meier said.

An autopsy is scheduled for Monday. Meier told DailyMail.com that an incident report is not expected to be made public until Tuesday, at the earliest, due to the holiday.

Kivlenieks was considered a potential future starter in net for the Blue Jackets. Most recently, he represented Latvia this spring at the world hockey championship in which he played four games. Prior to that, Kivlenieks played two games for the Blue Jackets and eight for the American Hockey League's Cleveland Monsters this past season.

'He was a really humble, thoughtful, intelligent radiant young man,' Grossman said of his client. 'Not to generalize, but for whatever reasons, goalies have always gotten a wrap for being more insightful, sometime deeper thinkers. And he was clearly like that, but in his own way.

'Really observant. He took everything in.'

[scottkoz20]

this story is getting more and more terrible with each new detail that comes to light (and its terrible to start)