Perezcious readers will no doubt recall the disturbing story of Dominick Krankall — the 6-year-old boy who suffered horrific second and third-degree burns following a terrible incident back in April at his home in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
At the time, authorities reported Dominick was allegedly the victim of a terrible bullying incident. The story went that he’d been playing in a yard with several other children, and was purposely hit in the face with a burning ball that led to his horrible burns. But now, newly released surveillance video of the yard where the incident occurs seems to show a different story.
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This week, police in Bridgeport concluded their investigation into the case, determining that “there was no wrongdoing,” according to WFSB-TV. The outlet reports that police determined Dominick and other boys in the backyard had been playing with a canister of gasoline together, and investigators say the incident was not a targeted bullying attack.
On Monday night, the TV station also published surveillance video showing the backyard scene and some of the moments that led up to the incident. In the short clip, one of the boys in the yard appears to fill a cup with gasoline before setting it down and lighting it on fire.
Off screen, Dominick can then be seen approaching the area with the cup. After a matter of seconds, he stumbles back on screen with his clothes and face on fire. Frantically wiping at the flames on his face, he runs across the yard. At one point, one of the other boys appears to attempt to help put the fire out from Dominick’s body, as you can see in the clip (below):
Wow.
Aside from the horror of the incident itself, the story went viral in late April after Dominick’s mother Maria Rua insisted her son was intentionally set on fire by neighborhood bullies. The boy’s family claimed to the media — and on a GoFundMe fundraiser page — that Dominick had been bullied by an 8-year-old neighbor and his 11-year-old brother. As of Wednesday morning, that GoFundMe has raised just short of $600,000 from supporters. The little boy was given a first responder parade in his honor in Bridgeport and invited onto the field at a New York Yankees game in the weeks following the incident, as well.
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But now, the mother of the two children accused of bullying Dominick is speaking out. Laura Giacobbe spoke to WFSB-TV about the allegations against her two boys and denied the bullying allegations. Explaining that she’d been out at the time of the scary event, and Rua had been watching the kids play in the backyard, Giacobbe said:
“They were interacting in the backyard being boys.”
Laura further explained that the video supposedly showed what really happened — including the moment where her older son Lorenzo tried to put the fire out and help Dominick:
“Dominick was not left there to die. My 11-year-old son Lorenzo saved him, took his bare hands and took the fire out on his face.”
Now, Giacobbe is “considering legal action,” according to the news outlet. She says the bullying allegations generated “a frenzy of threats” from people online, and even forced her family to receive police protection for a time after the incident occurred:
“The police department had to sit in front of the home overnight, to make sure nothing happened. It was stated the house would be lit on fire, they were going to drag my son and myself down the street and let us suffer from the pain.”
Jeez…
The news outlet notes that Dominick’s family is sticking by their story, which is “based on what the boy told them about the incident.” Furthermore, the Krankall clan claims that “key moments” of the incident are not shown in the short video. That could be true; the surveillance video is very short.
Either way, there is at least one undeniably good piece of news through all this: Dominick is “healing well” from the incident with “just a few red marks” still visible on his face, according to the news outlet. We love to hear that!!
What do U think about the new developments here, tho, Perezcious readers?
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