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Date: 6/22/2023
LONGMEADOW — The Longmeadow Police Department is seeking help to find the person or persons who broke into a storage building at Bliss Park and poured what was later determined to be muriatic acid on a slide at the playground the night of June 10.
Families discovered the acid when their children were playing the next day.
“My daughter went down the slide and there was water at the bottom. I didn’t see it until she had already gone down,” said Susan, the mother of 2-year-old Maggie. Reminder Publishing is only using the parent and child’s first names to protect the identity of a minor. Susan said, “She immediately started screaming.”
Susan said her daughter had obvious burns on her buttocks right away. She “raced home” with her children and spent 20 minutes washing Maggie in the shower. At first, Susan was unsure what had caused the burns. When she asked her mother and a friend what could cause such an injury, both wondered if they could be friction burns from the slide.
Later that day, however, Susan read the public post on Facebook from the Longmeadow Police Department stating that a “hazardous” substance had been found on slide at Bliss Park. After calling the police, she was directed to take her child to the emergency room.
“She has pretty significant burns to her groin, and burns on her belly and butt,” Susan said. she said the family’s pediatrician is concerned about infection due to the location of the burns and because Maggie is not yet potty trained. “This girl is the toughest,” she said of her daughter.
Maggie is not the only child who was injured by the acid. Ashley Walsh Thielen shared a photo on Facebook of her 2-year-old daughter’s leg after she slid down the slide at Bliss Park. The photo showed a red patch of skin with an open wound near the toddler’s diaper. In the post, Thielen said her 2-year-old and 1-year old children were both burned. The pool of acid was “very concentrated. It was burning our eyes and noses when we got close. This could have turned out so much worse if any had gotten into a child’s eyes or been ingested,” she said.
Thielen called the police and alerted them to the acid’s presence. “The Police and Fire department have been very thorough in their investigation so far, and were in contact with us all day, but there is no video surveillance at the park,” she added.
The Longmeadow Police and Fire departments and the DPW investigated the incident. The Massachusetts Department of Fire Service Hazardous Material Response Team, Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab Team, the FBI, District Attorney Anthony Gilluni’s office and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection also lent their resources.
The investigation found that the pump room in the basement of the pool building had been broken into. “Two fences had been climbed and a cover to a ventilation shaft was torn off,” according to a statement from the Fire Department. The person(s) accessed the room through the shaft and stole the muriatic acid, which is used to clean the pool.
The Fire Department further stated, “The pool chemicals had been stored properly in a secured area. A great deal of effort was employed to enter this space.” The Massachusetts State Police crime lab gathered evidence from the scene and the evidence is undergoing forensic analysis and finger printing.
On June 15, a specialty contractor performed a deep cleaning of the play equipment and other materials at the park. After cleaning, testing was conducted to ensure there was no further contamination. “As of now all hazardous materials have been cleaned up and removed,” the Fire Department said in a social media statement. “There is no threat to the public,” the department emphasized.
Susan said she felt as though someone needed to be held responsible for the incident, whether it be those who put the chemicals on the slide or the town. “I can tell you, I’ll never take my kids to that park again,” she said.
“I live in Chicopee and Longmeadow is supposed to be the nice place to go. It’s a completely messed up situation. I hope whoever did this feels shame and guilt. They essentially injured babies,” Susan said.
The Longmeadow police are actively investigating the incident and are asking for the public’s help. It is believed the acid may have splashed on the responsible parties, which may have resulted in burns to the hands and arms or damage to clothing. Members of the public who noticed recent burns on an individual or suspicious activity the night of June 10 are asked to call Longmeadow Police directly or use the Longmeadow Police Tip Line at 413-565-4199.