Disturbing 911 Call Reveals Burned Boy's Agony
"Help me! Please! Please!" boy pleaded through his strangled cries of pain.
Oct. 16, 2009— -- A boy allegedly set on fire by four teenagers in a dispute over a $40 video game can be heard screaming in pain as a woman calls 911 for emergency help.
"Help me!" and "Please! Please!" are some of the few words that are understandable through Michael Brewer's agonized pleas for relief moments after he was splashed with rubbing alcohol and set ablaze on Monday.
At times the obviously upset woman who is calling the Deerfield Beach, Fla., 911 dispatcher can barely be heard over Brewer's heartbreaking screams.
Nevertheless, the dispatcher asks how it happened, and the boy tells the woman, his voice frantic with pain, "Someone threw stuff on me." When asked who, Brewer wails, "I don't know."
Click here to listen to the 911 call
Five teens, including one who is 13, have been arrested and charged with the assault on Brewer, who is 15. Police said the four older teens could be charged as adults because of the "degree of cruelty" involved in the attack.
A spokesman for the Broward County State Attorney's office said today a decision has not yet been made on whether to prosecute the boys as adults.
Brewer, remains on a ventilator in Jackson Memorial Ryder Hospital's burn unit. Dr. Nicholas Namias said Brewer is critically ill with burns over 65 percent of his body.
"Every part of his body is affected…his torso, legs, arms and head. It does look like the burns to his face and hands are not as bad as they could be," said Namias.
The use of an accelerant means the burn injuries will likely get worse in the coming weeks. "We consider flame burns to be worse that most other types of burns," the doctor said.
Brewer is heavily sedated and his body is extremely swollen, doctors said. Even if Brewer makes it through the next few weeks, there is still the likelihood of organ failures and the painful prospect of multiple operations to replace the burned skin, his doctors said.
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