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Family sues city of Arlington in child's death from brain-eating amoeba at splash pad

Fort Worth Star-Telegram - 10/4/2021

Oct. 4—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, filed the Tarrant County District Court. 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."

Williams and Mitchell routinely brought Bakari to the south Arlington park at 201 E. Lonesome Dove Trail in August and September. Soon after one trip, Bakari started running a fever of nearly 102 degrees Fahrenheit and stopped eating and drinking.

"All he wanted to do was lay down," Mitchell said.

She and Williams knew something was wrong, Mitchell said, when their son was out of energy.

"Nothing could knock him down, so I knew something was wrong," she said.

The parents took Bakari to urgent care before he was hospitalized at Cook Children's Medical Center on Sept. 5.

The Don Misenhimer Park splash pad is one of four the city offers during the summertime and early fall as a respite from hot Texas summer days. City officials said in a Sept. 27 press release they are reviewing maintenance policies and procedures. Park maintenance staff did not record water quality test readings at Don Misenhimer Park or the splash pad at Beacon Recreation Center for over 60 of the 100 days the splash pads operated. Experts say keeping consistent records of chlorination levels and treatments is the best way to prevent primary amebic meningoencephalitis, experts told the Star-Telegram.

"If you're going to offer this form of public amusement, you've got to do it right," said Stephen Stewart of Austin, one of the parents' attorneys. "It's too serious not to. it's life and death."

The city's splash pads will remain closed until the city can address "gaps" in its daily inspection programs, Lemuel Randolph, deputy city manager, said in a press release Sept. 27.

N. Fowleri: what to know

Texas has historically had the highest number of primary amebic meningoencephalitis cases in the country, according to the CDC, with 39 cases reported since 1962. The amoeba thrives in warm bodies of freshwater, as well as insufficiently chlorinated swimming pool water and contaminated tap water. The CDC has reported 148 cases to date, and all but four cases have been fatal.

Early symptoms an resemble those of bacterial meningitis and include headaches, fever, nausea or vomiting. Later stages include stiff neck, seizures, coma, hallucinations and altered mental status. The disease kills people within five days of experiencing symptoms on average.

The amoeba infects humans when it enters through the nose, usually when jumping into bodies of water or rinsing naval cavities. Naegleria fowleri does not infect those who drink water with amoeba present because stomach acid typically kills the organism. People can minimize their risk of infection by using only distilled or filtered water for nasal cleansing and plugging their noses before jumping into warm water, or avoiding warm freshwater altogether.

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