The Parents of a Boy Who Died From a Brain-Eating Amoeba Found at a Splash Pad Sue the City
The parents of a 3-year-old boy who died after being infected with a rare brain-eating amoeba that was found at a Texas splash pad he’d visited sued the city that operated it for negligence on Monday.
Tariq Williams and Kayla Mitchell filed the lawsuit against the city of Arlington in Tarrant County District Court in Fort Worth. Their son, Bakari Williams, died Sept. 11 after being hospitalized with primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a rare and typically fatal infection caused by the naegleria fowleri amoeba.
The city announced his death last week after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the amoeba in water samples collected from the splash pad Bakari had visited. A city official also said that a review had found gaps in their daily inspection program that resulted in maintenance standards not being met at the city’s splash pads.