Battery explodes in Arlington Hts. man's hands

Tom Glasgow is grateful to everyone from his guardian angel to the Palatine Fire Department that he was not seriously injured when a car battery exploded in his hands.

The Arlington Heights trustee was taking what he thought was a dead battery to the AutoZone store in Palatine for recycling on Jan. 30, Glasgow said Tuesday.

In the parking lot, Glasgow reached into the trunk and grabbed one of the battery's handles to lift it out.

Acid hit the right side of Glasgow's face and his right hand, and burned his jeans. “Shrapnel” hit him on his thigh, leaving a baseball-size welt, and a smaller piece hit his face.

He couldn't move the fingers of the right hand, had ringing in his ear with a torn ear drum and minor chemical burns on his head, Glasgow said Tuesday.

Most of his symptoms subsided within the week, but he still is seeing doctors. His voice still gets hoarse if he talks for a while and he has some residual hearing loss. As well, a doctor wants to be sure there's no projectile in the leg wound.

Glasgow, an attorney with an office in Schaumburg, is particularly grateful that his eye was not damaged.

“I think the contact lens (which flew out of his eye) protected it,” he said. “The doctor said I could have burned out my cornea.”

Glasgow ran immediately into AutoZone and splashed water on his wounds from a drinking fountain, the first source of water he saw. Employees called 911, and Palatine paramedics insisted he go to the hospital.

He was full of praise for the AutoZone employees, the Palatine paramedics and the staff at Northwest Community Hospital.

There's no clear reason why the battery exploded. The weather was relatively cold — maybe in the 20s, and the battery had traveled from Wisconsin in his trunk.

“I don't know what set it off,” said Glasgow, who said he does not plan any litigation.

Perhaps it had to do with hydrogen gas build-up and static electricity, he said, and maybe he completed an electric circuit when he grabbed the handle.

Ann Noll, account manager with Battery Council International, a Chicago-based industry group, was one of several battery experts contacted who said they could not offer any explanation.

“Never assume a battery is dead,” she said. “And always wear eye protection when working with a battery.”

Glasgow credits his rush to wash the acid off with helping prevent more serious injury.

“I guess you learn that when you have a nun for a chemistry teacher,” he said. “But for the grace of God I could have been horribly maimed. I walked away without any long-standing issues.”