Police: 12-Year-Old Charged with Throwing Acid on 11-Year-Old at Detroit Playground

It now takes 11-year-old Deaira Summers two hours to get dressed after a 12-year-old girl threw acid on her at a Detroit playground, causing second and third burns all down the girl’s back, arms, and legs.

The incident happened on July 9, while Summers was playing with her siblings and cousins at Vernor Elementary’s playground, WXYZ reported. Summer’s cousin had unresolved drama with the 12-year-old assailant, and Summers was caught in the crossfire while running away to fetch her purse, according to her mother, Dominique Summers.

“You don’t know what you did,” her mother told WXYZ. “I feel like it was the most evil thing you could do to a kid and especially the fact that she was an innocent bystander.”

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy charged the 12-year-old with “one count each of Assault with Intent to do Great Bodily Harm and Felonious Assault.”

The juvenile is being held on a $10,000 bond, and made her second court appearance today. 

“This is an extremely troubling set of allegations. Instant horrible decision making can have lifelong effects on others. There is no excuse for this,” Worthy said.

Summers’ mother believes that an adult gave the 12-year-old the idea to bring acid to the park. 

“Whoever was involved with her, I would like them all to be arrested for what they did to my daughter,” she said. “I hope she gets what she deserves, and they all get what they deserve.”

Summers spent four days in the burn unit at the Children’s Hospital, and is lucky to be alive, according to a GoFundMe page set up by Summers’ grandmother, Debra Golston.

It takes Summers’ mother two hours every day to administer her daughter’s medication. She has taken time off work to care for her daughter. 

Nationwide, youth violence began to spike in 2020 after a decades-long downward trend, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Justice. Homicide committed by multiple minors increased by 66% in 2020, the Wall Street Journal reported. Authorities and community groups attribute the rise in violence to disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns which exacerbated mental health issues.