Leechburg rallies behind police chief severely hurt by fireworks

Among the displays of dishwashers and microwaves in Dan’s TV & Appliance in Leechburg is a large parakeet cage. The wood and Plexiglas box wasn’t always full of the blue and white birds. It used to house Mikey’s pet alligator — Mikey, as in Leechburg Police Chief Michael Diebold.

“He’s a good kid,” sales associate Vicki Craig, 58, a longtime family friend and employee of the Diebold family’s appliance store, said of the 39-year-old police chief who grew up with her two sons.

Ms. Craig is one of many community members concerned about Chief Diebold after a weekend fireworks accident.

“He was so lucky,” Ms. Craig said.

About 10:30 p.m. Saturday, a mortar misfired as Chief Diebold was lighting fireworks for the Leechburg Volunteer Fire Company’s annual carnival. Chief Diebold lost his left hand and part of the arm.

The Armstrong County borough

listed as the CEO of Aura Fireworks and has a license to handle display fireworks — the typical kind people see at Fourth of July celebrations.

Ms. Hennessy said she couldn’t comment on the type of firework that injured Chief Diebold, but several community members described the annual shows as “large” and “grandiose.”

The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office — with which for-profit businesses must register — reported that it does not have a record of the business.

Ms. Craig said she’d been texting Monday with Chief Diebold’s mother, Karen Diebold, who reported that her son was doing well. Chief Diebold was taken to UPMC Mercy Hospital after the accident.

The community came together Sunday night for a prayer vigil, and some residents banded together to raise money for Chief Diebold’s medical expenses.

“My business partner and I were sitting around trying to discuss how we could help, and I said let’s do what we know,” said Tracy Schaeffer of Leechburg, whose T-shirt company is selling shirts to raise money for the chief’s family.

Ms. Schaeffer designed a