Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Gasoline-soaked clothes hurt people, not sparklers

News brief over the weekend.

A 2-year-old suffered second-degree burns over half her body when she ventured near a teenager with a sparkler after her clothes had been drenched in gasoline. The clothes caught fire and she burned. That's the only information. Seems to be passed off as a dangerous fireworks incident.

Like hell.

More kids die of neglect than abuse. Really. Massive more kids.

How did a 2-year-old douse herself with gasoline? Well, I guess there might be an explanation that might make some kind of sense, though I can't think of one now.
When she did so, what parent would not immediately wash her off, removing the clothing? and redressing her in something fresh or bundling her in someone's clean t-shirt while her own clothing washed and dried? None of that happened. She was left in her gasoline-soaked clothes. And, as per her getting doused to begin with, allowed to wander around, unwatched. And so she encountered the sparkler. When her clothes caught fire, response was slow. So she was badly burned.

I'm sure her family is traumatized. I am hopeful they even care she is hurting and in the hospital. I bet not one of them has agonized "if only I had..." Hey, things happen. Those sparklers are more dangerous than we thought. Not our fault. Never our fault.

To me, this is a clear case of abuse--neglectful abuse. Don't know if CPS is investigating, or what the results will be if so. Possibly nothing. Family party. Kid wanders around, under eye of many people. Hey, an accident.

It didn't need to happen.

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