‘Prank’ scald victim shows will to prevail
AN 11-YEAR-OLD Bronx girl badly burned when a friend poured boiling water on her face won’t let her pain prevent her from being the life of the party.
Jamoneisha (Jamoni) Merritt was all smiles on Thursday as she laughed and danced her way down Finlay Ave. in Morrisania.
An annual block party was transformed into a celebration of the preteen’s incredible recovery and spirit.
More than 100 people gathered in the street, barbecuing and dancing. Cries of laughter echoed off the brick buildings as kids played nearby on an inflatable bounce house.
Jamoni’s mother smiled as she watched her daughter dance the afternoon away — something she wasn’t sure she’d ever see again.
“We’re doing a tribute to my daughter, and also awareness of bullying and domestic violence,” Ebony Merritt said, turning serious.
“She’s very happy. she loves to dance,” Merritt said. “She’s a people person.”
Jamoni, wearing a visor that covered some of the spots on her face where she suffered the most damage, flitted between groups of friends, gossiping and joking with kids from school and others who live on the block.
The happy, late-summer afternoon made the horror that Jamoni faced just weeks earlier seem like a lifetime ago, her mother said.
“I was very worried,” Merritt said. “I was devastated.”
The middle schooler was sleeping over at a friend’s house on Aug. 7 when a pal doused her with scalding water in a prank that went gruesomely wrong.
The incident resembled the “Hot Water Challenge,” a YouTube-inspired stunt in which kids throw boiling water on unsuspecting friends.
Jamoni — who suffered burns across 85% of her face, along with injuries to her back and chest — was rendered nearly unrecognizable.
Aniya Grant Stuart, 12, was taken into custody following the incident, sources said.
Jamoni said Aniya and two other girls had warned her, the night of the attack, that she would be pranked if she fell asleep.
Aniya is due in Family Court in the Bronx on Monday and faces assault charges, but Jamoni’s relatives want others charged.
They believe Aniya’s mother shares some of the responsibility for waiting 90 minutes to call 911.
“I think that her momma should have been charged too,” said Jamoni’s aunt, who only identified herself as Peggy. “Because she was there. Too much cleanup after the fact, trying to sweep it under the rug.”
Jamoni spent 11 days recuperating in the hospital, and her road to full recovery is far from complete.
She will likely miss the start of her seventh-grade classes and require home-schooling, her mother said.
Still, to see Jamoni’s enthusiasm on display during Thursday’s block party, it seemed safe to say she’ll rise to the challenge.
“It’s amazing,” Merritt said of her daughter. “Her spirit — and everything — is amazing.”