Stanwood Girl Thrown into Bonfire at Her Own Graduation Party
“I was just in shock”-Stanwood Girl Thrown into Bonfire at Her Own Graduation Party
STANWOOD, Wash. — Ciara Hodges was celebrating her graduation with her friends when she was thrown into a nightmare.
Hodges and her friends had lit a bonfire in her yard in order to burn their homework in a symbolic gesture.
But the bonfire took a violent turn when a teenage boy became belligerent.
“I tried to calm him down. He freaked out,” Hodges said.
Hodges said the teen became even more agitated. He tackled Hodges
and threw her into the fire.
“I was just in shock, really,” she said.
Hodges landed on her bottom. Friends pulled her out, but not before she suffered third-degree burns on her lower back.
“Horrible, the worst pain ever,” said Hodges. “I was shocked. Angry and shocked.”
Hodge’s attacker then ran in the home, and told her father that it was he who had been attacked. But the girl’s father soon learned the truth and called police. “He just was obviously on something,” said Hodges.
It’s not clear yet whether the teen will need skin grafts to fully heal. Surrounded by flowers in the hospital, she remains light-hearted, even counting her blessings for having avoided more severe injuries.
“I’m angry, but I’m a forgiving person,” she said. “People need to learn their lesson if they do something like that.”
The teen who attacked Hodges suffered burns to his face. He has been charged with first-degree assault, and remains jailed on $250,000 bail.
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