Man in viral "Back up Terry" video talks on fireworks safety after wheelchair malfunction

(CBS DETROIT) - A viral star of fireworks gone awry has a message for everyone on the Fourth of July: Leave the pyrotechnics to professionals.

Terry Davis, from Memphis, better known to the world as "Back up Terry," sent CBS News Detroit the original video from 2017.

"I was not expecting this to happen," Terry said about the moment his wheelchair malfunctioned as soon as he lit a firecracker. "It just happened."

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, it happens often. In 2023, over 9,700 people across the country were treated in emergency rooms for fireworks-related injuries. The highest percentage of those injuries were among teens.

"Kids are going to be kids, so watch them," Terry told CBS News Detroit Because it's very dangerous working with fireworks."

CBS News Detroit caught up with the Sletten family along the Riverwalk on Thursday, and they said that is precisely why they don't play with fireworks themselves.

"We do like fireworks; we enjoy watching them, but we don't do them ourselves," said Alena Sletten.

"We enjoy going out, watching them and partaking in the celebrations," said Jeremy Sletten. "But we just don't think it's safe to do it ourselves."

Terry Davis also shares this sentiment.

"If you don't know what you're doing, then back it up," Davis told CBS News Detroit. "Let someone else do it."