Detroit house hit with Molotov cocktail injuring homeowner: Investigation ongoing

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Someone tried to burn down a house with the homeowner inside. He survived, and now he’s talking to FOX 2 about his ordeal.

Big picture view:

Many can only imagine what Sterling Dickerson went through. He was upstairs watching TV when it happened—a Molotov cocktail was thrown at his house early Thursday morning.

He lives on Lanark Street in Detroit and suffered from burns.

"It came through the window, bounced here, and got in the corner," said fire victim Sterling Dickerson. "I actually had a bucket, a gray bucket, so I grabbed it and threw it in the bucket instead of trying to throw it outside. I knew it was going to splatter everywhere. I got lucky; 30 seconds later, it would have blown up and spread everywhere. No skin graft, it blistered up, and they said I was lucky. I was lucky with no nerve damage. It wasn’t fried; it just sizzled and then took my skin off my foot and my hands and my fingers."

Despite it all, Dickerson remained remarkably calm during his interview with FOX 2.

Dig deeper:

The case has been assigned to the Detroit Fire Investigation Division, and Detroit police officers were at the home early Thursday afternoon. Dickerson, a retired engineer, says he doesn’t have any known enemies, but clearly, someone has it out for him.

"That was ‘I’m trying to kill you.’ That’s not ‘I’m knocking on your door, want to drink some coffee together.’ That was like ‘I’m taking this person out,’" he said.

He says he’s going to be okay, but his fingerprints are burned off one of his hands.