Vista

A 19-year-old Vista man was injured Thursday when a military training device he found in a dumpster exploded in his hand.

The device, a booby-trap simulator, was clearly marked with the word Caution , but the victim is illiterate, Sheriff’s Lt. Bob Trevino said.

Michael Joe Peterson was taken to a local hospital and treated for first-degree burns and cuts on his right hand and shoulder. He was later released.

Peterson, who is unemployed, apparently was scavenging for aluminum cans when he came across the simulator in a dumpster in the 300 block of Weston Circle in Vista. Peterson pulled a string extending from one end of the cylindrical device and the device exploded in his hand, Trevino said.