Posted on 04/30/2005 5:53:08 PM PDT by holymoly
BRYAN, Texas (AP) - An 18-year-old ice cream vendor has been charged with injury to a child after being accused of burning several children by having them hold dry ice in their hands, police said.
Roberto Martinez Sanchez, who sold ice cream from his bicycle, had apparently told several kids on April 20 that he would give them the frozen dessert for free if they could hold a piece of dry ice in their bare hands for 10 or 15 seconds, according to investigators.
Dry ice is so cold it can freeze flesh, causing a burn-like injury. It is usually handled with insulated gloves.
Three girls at first tried to do it but were unsuccessful. They each suffered small burns on the palm of their hands.
One of the girls, who is 8 years old, then told her 13-year-old brother about Sanchez's offer.
The boy later told investigators he decided to try it because he had recently been in trouble for being mean to his sister. He went to Sanchez, who then put the dry ice in the boy's hand and held his hand shut, according to court documents.
Police said Sanchez held the boy's hand for 30 seconds.
The boy had to be treated for a second degree burn. A blister covered the majority of his left hand, with smaller blisters on his fingertips.
The three girls told police that Sanchez had to pry the dry ice out of the boy's hand.
"This is just a strange situation," said Officer Walt Melnyk, spokesman for the Bryan police department. "I'm sure he didn't mean any harm. The fact remains this was a precarious situation that he put these children in, and they were hurt."
Sanchez admitted he made an error in judgment but insisted to police that he at no time forced the children to participate in the incident, police said.
Although Sanchez paid an $8,000 bond for the two counts of injury to a child, he remained in the Brazos County Jail on an immigration hold, jail officials said.
Walt needs to cut back on the prozac.
That would be my guess:
...he remained in the Brazos County Jail on an immigration hold...
Killborn's ideal punishment for this punk:
1 minute dry ice in pants
5 minutes parental and 5 minutes police @$$ whomping
5 year jail term - 5 months solitary
Looks like.
But remember, he's only burning the children with dry ice that Americans don't want to burn with dry ice themselves.
Where does an illegal ice cream vendor get $8000 and if he had to pay only 10%, where does an illegal ice cream vendor get $800?
And why did they let him pay the fine if he didn't get out? Seems like if he's on immigration hold they should not have allowed him to shell out the bucks for the fine and still not get out of jail.
That SOB knew exactly what he was doing. He needs to go to jail. His boss will probably end up getting sued too.
Where's Vlad the Impaler when you need him?
No comment. Absolutely none.
If only more American citizens would step up to the plate to abuse children we wouldn't have to import them from points south.
It's okay, folks, the ice cream man has been rehabilitated and is now gainfully employed as a liquid nitrogen delivery driver.
The kids appear to be rather retarded: a modest size piece of dry ice can be held (and carried) in bare hand without any injury by continuously tossing it up (several inches), then catching and immediately tossing it up again. Using the same technique, one could put a small piece of dry ice (about 0.5 by 1") in one's mouth, continually move it around with one's tongue and blow smoke. In this last case, however, one needs to spit out the dry ice piece before it becomes too small.
"I'm sure he didn't mean any harm"
Of course he did.
We used to beg the icecream vendors in Stanford Stadium for dry ice so we could play with it. Far more interesting than the football game for 7 year olds.
You're questioning whether the *kids* are retarded?
Retarded? I doubt it.
From the article:
He went to Sanchez, who then put the dry ice in the boy's hand and held his hand shut, according to court documents.
Kind of hard to toss the dry ice into the air with your hand being held closed.
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