Family sues city of Arlington in child's death from brain-eating amoeba at splash pad
ARLINGTON -- The parents of a 3-year-old boy who died from a brain-eating amoeba he encountered while playing at the Don Misenhimer Park splash pad sued the city of Arlington for negligence on Monday morning.
Bakari Williams died Sept. 11 of primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a rare and highly fatal central nervous system disease caused by the parasitic amoeba Naegleria fowleri. The city announced his death Sept. 27, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention detected positive cases in water samples collected from the splash pad. The city also announced officials are reviewing park maintenance procedures after finding gaps in water quality documentation.
Bakari’s parents, Tariq Williams and Kayla Mitchell of Forst Hill, filed the lawsuit in Tarrant County District Court seeking over $1 million in damages. Williams said the case is about public awareness of the disease as well as the importance of proper splash pad maintenance and water standards.
“On behalf of our family and our friends we just want you to know that Bakari was a loving, energetic, passionate, sweet, beautiful, innocent boy,” Williams said. “He didn’t deserve to die in this manner.”
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