Girl, 12, arrested for burning boy, 12, with hot water
FRESNO, Calif. -- A 12-year-old boy is out of the hospital after suffering second-degree burns.
California police said a 12-year-old girl threw hot water at him because she was angry. The girl claimed self-defense, but police arrested her for what, they said, was a serious crime.
The boy's mother told ABC11's sister-station KFSN Action News that the incident was completely unjustified.
The 12-year-old girl claimed it was all the result of months of bullying.
The incident happened at the Shamrock Gardens Apartments in Hanford on Sunday. Police said several kids were involved in harassing each other, and the anger escalated.
"I just got angry, I just grabbed the hot faucet water," the young girl told KFSN. "I wasn't trying to harm anyone so I threw the water on the floor."
The scalding water caused the boy to have severe burns.
Another boy suffered some burns from the water as well. The girl and her mother, Crystal Foster, said the boys were accidentally hit with the hot water, and that this was the result of the girl being repeatedly bullied.
However, the injured boy's mother, Alondra Ochoa, said her son is not a bully.
"That shouldn't happen," Ochoa said. "I mean if she is saying my son threw a water balloon at her, that's fine throw one back at him. The kids are playing. But don't throw boiling hot water at him."
The boy said the burns were intentional.
"She started chasing me," he told Action News. "I didn't know the water was really hot until it hit me. The next thing I was screaming because the water hit my back."
They claimed the girl was part of the problem. Her mom said she's sorry for what happened, but her daughter had to defend herself.
"If somebody is going to attack you, you have every right to defend yourself," she said. "I don't think it was fair, and I know it was wrong."
Foster said she knew her daughter grabbed the water, but maintains the burns were not intentional.
Police have said the girl faces charges for battery with serious bodily injury because, they said, the incident was not self-defense.
"It just wasn't justified, the amount of injury that was caused as a result," Sgt. Stephanie Huddelston said.
The families live just a few doors from each other and must now figure out a way to keep more violence from happening.
Police said the incident is the perfect example of when it's necessary to call officers for help. They said if they had been called for the harassment before the burns they probably could have been prevented.
