Hot-tar accident a ‘nightmare’
Boy, 8, recovering at Sick Kids but dreams about being burned after incident in his school gym
Eight-year-old Azeriah Jeremiah is on the mend after hot asphalt fell on him and two of his classmates during gym class at North York’s Derrydown Public School, in an incident the TDSB says “should not have happened.”
The asphalt fell into the gym during a roofing project, sending two 8-year-old students to hospital.
The incident is being investigated by the TDSB and the Ministry of Labour.
Jeremiah’s mother, Nyoka Colman, was in Jamaica when she received word that her son was headed to Sick Kids with burns. Colman immediately flew back to Toronto.
“I couldn’t process it for maybe three or four hours,” she said.
“I couldn’t understand, just the fact that they’re saying ‘at school’ and I’m thinking, there’s no way this could happen to my son at school.
“There’s just no way. I don’t send (my son to) school to get burned; I send him to school to learn. The school’s there to protect him.”
Friday afternoon, Jeremiah was still at Sick Kids, but expected to be discharged soon.
“This shouldn’t have happened and we’re taking it seriously to investigate what exactly caused it,” TDSB spokesperson Ryan Bird said. “In the meantime … our thoughts are with the students that were injured and we’re just wishing for a speedy recovery.”
Colman said her son “smelt a strong smell” in the gym on Monday.
“They went toward the smell and that’s when the tar (fell),” she said. “His exact words were, ‘it came raining down on me.’ ”
Another 8-year-old boy was hospitalized briefly after the asphalt fell on Monday. The asphalt landed on the shirt of a third student, an 8-year-old girl, who was uninjured.
Bird said a community meeting for parents will be held at the school next week “to provide information and answer any questions that parents may have.”
Jeremiah is having fun at Sick Kids, his mother said, but is scared to go back to the school gym.
“He’s more self-conscious, because, especially when they take off the dressing, he looks at it and he asks me if I think he’s weird or he thinks people are going to make fun of him now,” Colman said.
“He keeps having nightmares … Last night, he woke up twice. He was having the nightmare that he was getting burned and he was getting trapped; he couldn’t leave the school.”
Jeremiah remains on pain medication. He’s had asphalt stuck in his hair all week, and on Friday, hospital staff were in the process of combing it out after soaking his head all week.
Colman hopes the investigation moves quickly.
“How could you be doing construction on the roof and not block off that area?” she asked.
Bird said the investigation is underway, and work on the roof has halted.
“This should not have happened,” he said. “And that’s why we’re investigating: to determine exactly what happened and how this came about.
“Obviously, parents should be able to send their kids to school knowing that it is, indeed, safe, and the fact is: it is safe. But this specific incident, obviously, is concerning and that’s why we’re investigating to determine exactly how it happened.”
School staff, including a TDSB superintendent, have visited Jeremiah in hospital.
“Before I sent my son to school, I didn’t feel concerned; I just sent him to school. He was happy. I was happy,” Colman said.
“Now, I just don’t feel that same security that I felt before.”