Bottle rocket misfires, student sues

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HUNTINGTON, W.Va., Feb. 3 (UPI) -- A West Virginia college student is suing a fraternity for negligence, claiming he fell off a deck because a bottle rocket went off in another student's rectum.

Louis Helmburg III of Marshall University is suing the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity and fraternity member Travis Hughes, claiming he suffered injuries at a party in 2011 after the allegedly drunken Hughes attempted to fire a bottle rocket from his anus, Courthouse News Service reported Thursday.

"Instead of launching, the bottle rocket blew up in the defendant's rectum, and this startled the plaintiff and caused him to jump back," and fall off the deck, the lawsuit contends.

In the suit, filed in Cabell County Court, Helmburg claims he suffered pain and medical expenses and lost playing time on Marshall's baseball team, and that the fraternity was negligent in supervising its guests and members.

The report offered no information on Hughes' medical condition after the incident.