An 11-year-old girl was severely burned when her friends poured scalding hot water on her as part of a cruel social media stunt in The Bronx, police said.
The girl, identified by New York 1 as Jamoneisha Merritt, suffered burns to to her face chest, back and shoulders early Monday morning.
Police have arrested and charged the 12-year-old girl who allegedly dumped the water on her.
“It don’t make sense,” Merritt’s cousin Starshanae Nixon told The Post. “You don’t do that to a person. They was best friends.”
The heinous act was apparently part of a moronic stunt known as the “hot water challenge,” in which an unsuspecting person has boiling hot water dumped on them. In other variations, people willingly try to consume boiling water, police sources said.
Her uncle said outside the hospital that the girl was doing well but was not aware of the damage done to her.
“I think the only reason why she in good spirits is because she don’t actually see the damage done to her,” Eugene Dalmida, 52, told The Post.
“They ain’t letting her see her face. I can’t bear to look at her… It gets me too upset.”
Merritt had been invited to the sleepover party Sunday night at an apartment near the corner of Findlay Ave. and E. 166th St. in Concourse Village, police said.
As she was sleeping, the girl poured the water on Merritt, who was forced awake by the searing pain caused by the hot water.
Merritt is currently receiving treatment at Harlem Hospital for her injuries.
The 12-year-old who dumped the water has been charged with felony assault, police said.
An adult was present at the home when the incident happened.
Merritt’s mom, Ebony, told NY1 that her daughter is in excruciating pain and said doctors are not allowing the child to even look at her burns.
She added that her daughter had previously been bullied by the girl who attacked her before inviting Jamoneisha to the party Sunday night.
“She’s very sad. She’s emotionally messed up. She don’t understand why they did that to her. She thought they was her friends,” Ebony Merritt told NY1.
“I was told that they didn’t like her. And they just been bullying her. They’ve been on Snapchat. It’s been going on several times. The girl admitted it. ‘I don’t like her. I wanted to do it.’”
Late last month, an 8-year-old Florida girl was killed when she drank boiling water through a straw after being dared by her cousin to do so.
Ki’ari Pope and her cousin had apparently watched several videos on YouTube of people performing the so-called “hot water challenge” before the child severely burned her throat and died, CBS News reported.
Source: NyPost
