StarBulletin.com

Parents of burned kids facing charges


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POSTED: Thursday, January 07, 2010

The parents of a 7-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy critically injured in a fireworks accident last week are facing criminal charges, Maui police said yesterday.

The Maui Police Department has initiated cases of child abuse and neglect, reckless endangering and endangering the welfare of a minor.

An investigation showed “;the parents of the victims failed to properly care for and protect their children and recklessly endangered them by allowing them to play with fireworks in the bed of a pickup truck,”; the police news release said. “;The parents also failed to recognize that there was an imminent risk of bodily injury when they allowed their children to play with the fireworks. The fireworks ignited and severely burned both children.”;

The children were playing with fireworks in the bed of a pickup truck at the family's home on New Year's Eve.

A loud boom was heard and all the fireworks in the truck ignited just after midnight Friday, New Year's Day. Police said the children's clothing caught on fire.

The girl received third-degree burns to her legs and the boy suffered second-degree burns.

The children were initially taken to Maui Memorial Hospital and later flown to Oahu's Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children, where they are in stable condition.

The boy was in the pediatric intensive care unit.

Police found several homemade fireworks at the scene, including aluminum cans duct-taped together.

Police said the parents have not yet been arrested.

The case will be sent to the Maui Prosecutor's Office for review, police said.

First Deputy Prosecutor Peter Hanano said he could not comment on a case that is still pending. Hanano, however, recalled an Oahu case in which a homemade bomb injured an 11-year-old girl on New Year's Eve 2005.

The bomb blew a hole through the girl's hand, which she raised to shield her face. Two men were convicted and sentenced in 2008 to five years' probation, with one man ordered to serve 12 weekends in jail and the other two weekends.

Joelson B. Ea pleaded guilty in July 2008 to second-degree assault, first-degree reckless endangering and third-degree criminal property damage. Marc B. Bantolina pleaded no contest to first-degree reckless endangering.