Boy, 4, suspected of knifing pal after beaning with whiffle ball
By Marie Szaniszlo
Thursday, July 8, 2004
Just wait until this little guy starts playing little league. "Hold on a minute let me go to my bike" and then he comes back with gun.
State social-service workers are investigating the family of a 4-year-old Whitman boy who allegedly attacked his 10-year-old neighbor with a butcher knife during a game of whiffle ball.
The incident occurred Monday as the boys played in the back yard of the two-family Victorian-style house where the boys live. At one point, the 4-year-old missed the ball, and it hit him in the head, according to the older boy's mother, Leslie MacIver, and the younger boy said, ``Hold on. Wait a minute,'' and ran into the house.
A moment later, he returned with a large butcher knife and tried to stab MacIver's son, Christopher, on his back and both sides of his neck before nicking his left arm, she said.
The cut is no more than two inches long, and didn't require stitches. But the thought of what could have happened, particularly given Christopher's size, convinced MacIver to call police.
``To keep the peace, you don't want to say, `Don't play with that kid because he's dangerous,' '' MacIver said. ``But (Christopher's) not a normal-size kid who can fight his own battles. (The younger boy) could basically have killed him.''
Yesterday, the 4-year-old's mother declined to comment. The state Department of Social Services is investigating the report, the second it has received about the family, said spokeswoman Denise Monteiro.
In the two years they've lived in the house MacIver's uncle owns, nothing about the 4-year-old has stood out until last year, when his parents separated and his father died of a heart attack a week later at the age of 37, MacIver said. On Monday, she said, she overheard his mother telling police he's talked about seeing angels.
``I think he needs help,'' MacIver said. ``Somebody needs to step in before something awful happens.''
By Marie Szaniszlo
Thursday, July 8, 2004
Just wait until this little guy starts playing little league. "Hold on a minute let me go to my bike" and then he comes back with gun.
State social-service workers are investigating the family of a 4-year-old Whitman boy who allegedly attacked his 10-year-old neighbor with a butcher knife during a game of whiffle ball.
The incident occurred Monday as the boys played in the back yard of the two-family Victorian-style house where the boys live. At one point, the 4-year-old missed the ball, and it hit him in the head, according to the older boy's mother, Leslie MacIver, and the younger boy said, ``Hold on. Wait a minute,'' and ran into the house.
A moment later, he returned with a large butcher knife and tried to stab MacIver's son, Christopher, on his back and both sides of his neck before nicking his left arm, she said.
The cut is no more than two inches long, and didn't require stitches. But the thought of what could have happened, particularly given Christopher's size, convinced MacIver to call police.
``To keep the peace, you don't want to say, `Don't play with that kid because he's dangerous,' '' MacIver said. ``But (Christopher's) not a normal-size kid who can fight his own battles. (The younger boy) could basically have killed him.''
Yesterday, the 4-year-old's mother declined to comment. The state Department of Social Services is investigating the report, the second it has received about the family, said spokeswoman Denise Monteiro.
In the two years they've lived in the house MacIver's uncle owns, nothing about the 4-year-old has stood out until last year, when his parents separated and his father died of a heart attack a week later at the age of 37, MacIver said. On Monday, she said, she overheard his mother telling police he's talked about seeing angels.
``I think he needs help,'' MacIver said. ``Somebody needs to step in before something awful happens.''
