Apr 10, 2009 9:20 am US/Eastern
Boy, 11, Arrested For Shocking 'Razor Slide' Prank
Dutchess County Playground Turns Into Crime Scene After Little 6-Year-Old Gets 30 Stitches In Rear End
PLEASANT VALLEY, N.Y. (CBS) ―
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A 6-year-old boy needed 30 stitches to close the wound on his rear end after he went down a playground slide in Pleasant Valley, N.Y., not knowing someone had rigged it with a box cutter blade.
CBS
It's supposed to be a safe haven for kids, but what happened on a Dutchess County playground is sick and shocking.
A 6-year-old boy was injured going down a slide -- after it was rigged with a razor blade.
Now an 11-year-old boy is under arrest.
"I slid down the slide; I felt something stinging," 6-year-old Sean Yambo said.
When Sean tells the painful story of his slide and slice, it makes people angry. This kid, who should not know any pain, suffered an excruciating gash on his behind after a blade from a box cutter was deliberately wedged into a crack in a slide at this apartment complex playground.
"The ambulance took me on a stretcher and took me in the cars. They put me in the hospital. They put on my stitches," Sean said.
John Yambo, Sean's father, was furious.
"He was at the top of the slide all happy. When he went down … disaster," John said. "Thirty stitches … it was horrifying to say the least. Every night we're changing the gauze and what not. The pain, the agony, the screaming. ..."
Sean's father said he watched as investigators removed the slide, taking it in as evidence, and he was relieved a suspect was quickly identified. Investigators said it was a boy, only 11 years old, who lives nearby and who had vandalized the same playground before.
"Maybe they're a bad kid and they don't like kids," said little Sean, adding that he's angry and "sad that I hot hurt."
John Yambo echoed a familiar cry.
"You're not safe, even in your place. You never know what can happen out there. I feel bad for the other kid who was involved who did it. He's 11, so something is wrong with him, too."
Thousands of children are hurt every year on playgrounds, almost always as accidents and not sabotage. Parents and guardians are advised to supervise the children and always check playground equipment before allowing children to use it.
"Unfortunately, that is where we are at. We have to check everything," neighbor Cathy Nazak said. "Instead of sitting at the picnic bench you'll be standing beside your child checking everything."
But Nazak also added the now-empty playground will bustle with kids again. But just like Sean's injury, it will take time before pain and fear slides away.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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