Monday, May 6, 2019

Report: 10 teens hospitalized after someone tossed chemical from above during party at First Houses



Police are investigating a high school party that turned ugly when someone at the First Houses reportedly tossed a chemical substance from above onto the crowd, sending at least 10 teens to the hospital for minor burns.

According to The New York Times (the story was also picked up by the Associated Press), as many as 300 teens were at the party in a rented basement room at First Houses, the public housing complex on Third Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Partygoers paid $10 to enter a basement room usually reserved for tenant meetings.

To the Times:

The music was blasting as the crowd, which included teenagers from an elite public high school in Brooklyn, spilled into the courtyard. Barely an hour had passed before residents of the development ... called the police at about 10 p.m.

But someone upstairs had decided to do something about it. White paint and a caustic chemical were poured from overhead, burning at least 10 of the teenagers in the courtyard, the police said on Sunday.

And...

Valerie Vail, the mother of one victim, said many partygoers were students at Brooklyn Technical High School, including her daughter, a sophomore who she said was attending her first party as a student there. The attack left the girl with burns the size of dimes and quarters on her back, chest and arms, Ms. Vail said.

She said her daughter had shown her photos of other partygoers who had large burns across their chests, necks and legs.

After the paint and chemicals rained down, some partygoers rushed the East Third Street building’s front door and attempted to force their way in, slamming their fists against the door’s glass panes, cracking one, said Michael Strachan, 60, who lives in the building.

There is an unconfirmed report that a man who lived in the building "appeared to have thrown an orange-colored drain cleaner on the crowd below." Some of the injured teens ran to a nearby deli and poured milk onto the burns.

Tenants told the Times that they do not believe the party host lived in the building.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Was alcohol being made available? I doubt the resident got so angry because this was the first time, it sounds like a continuing problem he was prepared for.

whitney said...

lol that's one way of telling them to keep it down

Anonymous said...

But is the Chillmaster okay??

Anonymous said...

We're laughing at this? It's just wrong to inflict potential serious injury on kids because they're bothered by noise. Find some other way to deal that doesn't put other humans at risk.

Anonymous said...

Yeah that is messed up those kids just having fun and someone decides to throw some chemicals on them...I hope the cops find out who did it and make an arrest...no doubt some resident on the upper floor who did not like the noise.

Anonymous said...

What kind of horrible and cowardly person would settle a gripe by throwing a caustic material on kids?????

Imagine what else this person is capable of...

Sarah said...

This should not have happened. However, whoever decided they should let teenagers who don't even live in the buildings host a party there is out of their got-damn mind.

Anonymous said...


Regardless of why/how the kids were there is not the issue, someone from the building rented that space - if they were too loud/annoying -
then call 911, the building super - - but to burn kids ? !
That is just mean and sick, as in really sick.
Lucky no one went blind.

Anonymous said...

Water balloons on hand...

Anonymous said...

Throw water people. Not chemicals.

Anonymous said...

Annon 1:34 victim blame much? Teens are annoying but they do not deserve a violet crime inflicted upon them. How about calling the cops.

Sarah said...

I hope they catch the guy! That sentiment's been pretty well covered already. Just pointing out that there is an underlying Super Bad Idea here that the landlord needs to be shamed for.

Anonymous said...

I don’t see any reason to believe anyone decided to rent the space to teens — it seems much more likely the kids knew the space was there & not in constant use, and decided they could use it & charge admission.

It’s insane to throw chemicals at anyone, of course, but it’s not entirely surprising things got to that level. Police take noise complaints but often don’t do anything about them. The reason they take noise complaints in the first place is that we collectively decided long ago it’s more civilized for them to mete our justice than for people to do it themselves. There’s always a risk people will take law into their own hands if they know no one else can be counted on to do it.

Scuba Diva said...

The worst I've ever done when we've had loud drunken parties in the courtyard is dump my cat's litter box out the window—and that was only because I noticed that the drunken revelers liked getting water poured on them.