Overheated, pocketed PSP burns through child’s pants

We’ve heard of cases of spontaneous combustion before, but how often have we heard of spontaneous combustion involving a Sony PSP? Yup, we thought so.

In another explosive accident involving Sony’s handheld, a child suffered second-degree burns when the PSP in his pocket caught fire. More on this “hot” story after the jump.

A word of warning: you may want to refrain from placing your Sony PlayStation Portable in your pocket, even if it’s switched off.

Harold Clay of Warner Middle School in Farmington Hills, Michigan suffered second-degree burns when the PSP in his pocket caught fire and burned a hole in his pants.

Fortunately, a teacher was somehow able to separate the portable from Clay in time. Clay’s mother, Sheila, reported how her son managed to avoid greater injury during the fiery accident:

He said it wasn’t a gradual heat. It really started heating up. He’s always been taught, burn- fire- smoke, you drop and you roll. So, he was in his band class and he dropped and rolled.

Ironically, the game inside the player when the incident occurred was one of the titles from the Burnout series of games. Clay’s parents were puzzled by the fact that the PSP was purportedly switched off the whole time.

Clay’s parents said they plan to contact Sony to check if any similar incidents have been reported by other people.