A young boy from Connecticut suffered second and third-degree burns after being on the receiving end of a flaming tennis ball doused in gasoline that was thrown at him on Sunday. Six-year-old Dominick Krankall was reportedly playing with some children when the incident took place.
According to the New York Post, Bridgeport Police said the children were unsupervised at the time they were reportedly seen playing with gasoline and lighting objects on fire. The report states that Krankall’s sister Kayla Deegan pointed to a neighbor as the one who had thrown the fiery ball at her younger brother. When police arrived, Krankall was found with severe burn injuries and was rushed to a local hospital for treatment.
"What he did was pour gasoline on a tennis ball, took a lighter, lit it up, and just chucked it right at my brother's face — and then ran away from him and watched him burn," Deegan said.
The boy was playing in his backyard when he was bullied by an 8-year-old boy from their neighbors. The boy apparently was able to access a shed on their property and grabbed gasoline and a lighter. He then coaxed Krankall to come near him.
“As soon as he walked down the stairs, the bully called his name and lured him over around the corner,” Deegan told NBC New York.
Krankall came around the corner screaming for his mother saying, “They lit me on fire!”
At around 4 pm, the young boy was rushed to the burn unit at Bridgeport Hospital. Doctors who attended to the boy said he is expected to recover and was lucky to have survived the incident. His body is completely swollen and wrapped up in bandages as he endured burns to his face and legs.
Deegan told reporters that her brother had been playing in their backyard with some children who live below them. She pointed at their neighbor’s kid, saying he did the act on purpose as the boy had a history of bullying her brother.
Hospital officials said this is not the first time the alleged bully has put Krankall in the hospital. Deegan recalled the previous incident, "Two months ago under the bully’s mother's supervision, he was pushed into a wall and fell to the floor. And again, the mother refuses to admit her kid did it.”
Authorities, in cooperation with efforts from the police, fire department and the state fire investigation teams have launched a probe into the incident. No charges have been filed at the moment while the other boy’s family is not willing to address the incident either.
Krankall’s family is calling for justice and currently raising funds to help pay for hospital expenses and money to enable them to move and live in a safer neighborhood.
