Anchorage men accused of setting boy's hair afire
by The Associated Press
2 months ago | 1853 views | 11 11 comments | 4 4 recommendations | email to a friend | print
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Police say two Anchorage men who were baby-sitting a girlfriend's children set a 5-year-old boy's hair on fire with what they called a "redneck flamethrower."

They lit an aerosol spray on fire and aimed it at the boy in an attempt to scare him to toughen him up.

They said it was an accident that the flames reached farther than expected.

The boy's hair was singed and he suffered burns on the side of his face.

The Anchorage Daily News reports the injury occurred Friday but the boy wasn't treated until Monday when the injury was noticed at school.

The men, ages 29 and 32, are facing charges of assault and reckless endangerment. One is the boy's mother's current boyfriend and the other man has another child with the woman.

comments (11)
« anonymous wrote on Friday, Nov 20 at 01:11 AM »
Sorry Samm_redux - Abuse is wrong. Two wrongs don't make a right. Even Jesus said the "eye for an eye" mentality was wrong. (I'm not assuming you're Christian, just responding to your mention of the rule.) We don't have to abuse people to hold them accountable for their wrongs. Our torturous domestic prison system does a lot more harm to our society than good. The "corrections" system rarely corrects a thing because it's so abusive. Programs that teach better behavior by example and education have much better recidivism rates, as well as being better in general for public safety.
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« craZ4birdz wrote on Thursday, Nov 19 at 07:10 PM »
What Next?! Poor kid.
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« hrdharry wrote on Thursday, Nov 19 at 05:52 PM »
I get a jerry springer mental picture, missing teeth and all with these 2 guys. Probably all sister and brothers, poor kid.
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« jtak57 wrote on Thursday, Nov 19 at 02:33 PM »
Man those guys are about as bright as a burned out light bulb!.
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« Samm_redux wrote on Thursday, Nov 19 at 02:20 PM »
MJHemple - You are wrong about that. Abusing children perpetuates more abuse; abusing adult abusers does not. Severely punishing them "eye for eye" fashion will not make them into abusers... they are already abusers. But you are right that they may have been abused as kids... or maybe just dropped on their heads at birth.
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« MJHemple wrote on Thursday, Nov 19 at 01:32 PM »
Samm_redux - Abusing the perps will only create more abuse. Odds are, abuse is what made them abusive in the first place, so inflicting more of the same is not only illogical but futile. The kids need to be removed from the situation until the parents are schooled in the job of parenting without blow torches and other hideous means. If/when that day comes, negotiations for returning them to the parents could start.
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« MJHemple wrote on Thursday, Nov 19 at 01:09 PM »
What kind of parenting program recommends "toughening up" a five-year-old with a blow torch?! I'm with b.n. and hope the kid and his siblings find a good, safe foster home. With that kind of mentality there's no telling what other things have been done to "toughen them up". Five-year-olds are not supposed to be tough. They're supposed to be precious little children.
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« Pearl=W wrote on Thursday, Nov 19 at 01:08 PM »
Oh yeah, that'll toughen him right up! Big men, trying to terrorize a 5yo. And mom must be a real winner, too, not to have taken the kid in for medical attention at all. Why do people insist on having kids, if they don't care about them?
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« Samm_redux wrote on Thursday, Nov 19 at 12:49 PM »
Sounds like the mother is not much better than the two boyfriends (each the father of her two kids? what does that say about her?)... did she not notice that her kid was burned? She is almost as guilty as they are and it certainly demonstrates that she is an unfit mother.

The ought to set the pubes of these two guys on fire... just to let them know how much fun the kid experienced.
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« b.n. wrote on Thursday, Nov 19 at 12:22 PM »
Holy crap! What the heck is the matter with people? Those two idiots should be thrown into the wood chipper...and how lovely of the kid's mother not to bother with his burns. I hope that poor boy finds himself in a nice foster home surrounded by responsible adults who will actually take care of him.

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« mackie1 wrote on Thursday, Nov 19 at 12:19 PM »
I don't know? I hope the boy heals up o.k..Morons!
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