Jun 13, 2009 11:55 am US/Central
Police: Gary, Ind. Boy Burned In Prank Gone Wrong
HAMMOND, Ind. (Sun-Times Media Wire) ―
-
-
Elijah Judkins, of Gary, checks on his son Joshua as he recovers from burns on 20 per cent of his body at Stroger Hospital in Chicago on June 11, 2009.
Leslie Adkins/Post-Tribune
Four days after 9-year-old Joshua Judkins was rushed to the hospital for treatment of third-degree burns on his back, chest, stomach and arms, three older boys accused of setting Judkins on fire turned themselves in to police headquarters and told their side of the story, police said.
Judkins said the boys led him into woods near his mother's house in the Kennedy Crossing apartment complex, then threw alcohol on his back and set him on fire.
The boys, ages 13 to 14, told police they and Judkins were using rubbing alcohol from a first aid kit they found to light sticks on fire, and that Judkins was standing over the open bottle when he accidentally caught fire, Hammond police spokesman Lt. Richard Hoyda said.
All three boys told the same story, Hoyda said.
"We have not gotten a statement from [Judkins], but we will when he is able," Hoyda said. "When we finish our investigation, we will turn it over to juvenile [court] prosecutors to decide charges."
Judkins on Friday remained at Stroger Hospital of Cook County, where he is scheduled for surgery to help mend his badly burned back and arm, said the third-grader's father, Elijah Judkins.
Elijah Judkins said police investigators informed him of the older boys' statement, and said their account clearly does not match the version he heard from his son, or explain the locations of his son's worst burns.
"[Police] didn't talk to anyone until today," Judkins said. "It's been four days that they didn't do anything, so of course they're all telling the same story today."
Judkins lives with his father in Gary, Ind., but was visiting his mother in Hammond. He and his older brothers met the teens Sunday. On Monday afternoon, Judkins told his parents, the older boys asked him if he wanted to go with them into the woods and learn how to build a fire.
A police report from Monday states the boys were playing with sticks and lighters, and Joshua had alcohol "thrown on him and caught fire."
Judkins told his parents the alcohol was dumped on him by one of the older boys, one of whom then tried to pull off Judkins' burning shirt. Judkins rolled on the ground to put out the flames and ran a block to his mother's apartment.
"This story does not make sense," Elijah Judkins said. "We want justice. We want the truth."
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2009. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Jewish Celebrities
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
