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Teens Will Face Adult Charges In Toddler's Burning
(AP) MIDDLE RIVER, Md. The two teenagers arrested earlier this week as juveniles in the chemical burning of a toddler at a Baltimore
County playground will be charged as adults, the state's attorney said Thursday.
Kyle Meredith and Mateusz Dybala are both 16 and live in the Essex area. They will be charged as adults with first-degree assault, Scott D. Shellenberger said.
The youths also face juvenile charges of reckless endangerment and second-degree burglary, which were placed against them this week.
Two-year-old Payton Potochney sustained second- and third-degree burns Saturday while going down a slide upon which caustic drain cleaner had been poured. The boy underwent a skin graft this week at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and underwent another surgical procedure Thursday afternoon, Johns Hopkins Hospital Center officials said.
He was in fair condition before the surgery, hospital officials said.
The new charges came from physical evidence found at the playground and analyzed by a crime lab, Shellenberger said. He would not give further details.
"We look at the law, follow evidence and do what we think is right," Shellenberger said. "The decision made on Monday, in light of the evidence, was right, and the decision that's being made now, in light of the evidence, is also right."
Police said the youths broke into a school storage area at Victory Villa Elementary School in Middle River and found bottles of caustic drain cleaner, which they poured on a slide at the school playground, to see whether the chemical would burn the plastic. When it did not, they left the playground, the chemical still on the slide, police said.
(AP) MIDDLE RIVER, Md. The two teenagers arrested earlier this week as juveniles in the chemical burning of a toddler at a Baltimore
County playground will be charged as adults, the state's attorney said Thursday.
Kyle Meredith and Mateusz Dybala are both 16 and live in the Essex area. They will be charged as adults with first-degree assault, Scott D. Shellenberger said.
The youths also face juvenile charges of reckless endangerment and second-degree burglary, which were placed against them this week.
Two-year-old Payton Potochney sustained second- and third-degree burns Saturday while going down a slide upon which caustic drain cleaner had been poured. The boy underwent a skin graft this week at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and underwent another surgical procedure Thursday afternoon, Johns Hopkins Hospital Center officials said.
He was in fair condition before the surgery, hospital officials said.
The new charges came from physical evidence found at the playground and analyzed by a crime lab, Shellenberger said. He would not give further details.
"We look at the law, follow evidence and do what we think is right," Shellenberger said. "The decision made on Monday, in light of the evidence, was right, and the decision that's being made now, in light of the evidence, is also right."
Police said the youths broke into a school storage area at Victory Villa Elementary School in Middle River and found bottles of caustic drain cleaner, which they poured on a slide at the school playground, to see whether the chemical would burn the plastic. When it did not, they left the playground, the chemical still on the slide, police said.
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