Sleeping teen badly burned in 'Hot Water Challenge' stunt
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}An Arkansas teen is recovering from first- and second-degree burns on his neck after his friends doused him in boiling hot water as he slept. Nickolas Conrad, a student at Sherwood High School, said the six boys who attended a sleepover at a friend’s house attempted the “Hot Water Challenge” on him, and then burnt him with a cigarette lighter, KTHV reported.
“I felt this really bad burning on my neck and I woke up and I just started screaming and crying,” Conrad told the news outlet. “I just laid in bed crying for about two hours, and I finally got up and went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror and realized that this happened.”
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Conrad said he returned home to his mother later that morning and the pair went straight to the hospital, where he was treated for the burns.
“They told me that they poured hot water on me, and they didn’t realize it was that hot but it was pretty bad at the time,” he told KTHV.
Conrad’s injuries come weeks after an 11-year-old girl suffered second- and third-degree burns to her face and shoulders after her friends attempted the same prank. Jamoneisha “Jamoni” Merritt spent 11 days in the hospital recovering, and while a 12-year-old was taken into custody in connection to the prank, no charges have been filed in Conrad’s case.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“I just want them to leave me alone,” he said of the boys. “They’re not my friends anymore and they’re not going to be. I’ve realized what friends are and how they act and those were never my friends.”
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Conrad’s mother, Mickey, told KTHV she is still in shock over the incident, and is pleading with other parents to talk to their children about the dangers of online challenges.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“I thought he had been in an accident and that it had been an accident,” she told KTHV. “But when I found out it was deliberate, it’s so concerning. Don’t ever say, ‘My child won’t do that,’ and educate them.”
The Sherwood police department is looking into the incident, KTHV reported.