Eight men, 18 to 21 years old, are facing serious charges in connection with a fire that badly burned a 14-year-old boy after he was doused in lighter fluid during a southwest Denver house party.
Among the charges members of the group face are attempted second-degree murder, child abuse, tampering with evidence and efforts to intimidate witnesses, police said today.
Police were called at about 3:30 a.m. on Feb. 14 to Federal Boulevard and Alameda Avenue, where witnesses saw the boy acting erratically and in need of medical attention. He was rushed to The Children’s Hospital in Aurora with severe burns on his hands, chest, neck and face.
His injuries were very serious, but non-life-threatening, said police spokesman Sonny Jackson.
Those arrested so far are Erick Perez, 20, Damian Sibayan, 18, Cody Cummings, 18, David Ingram, 19, Michael Bellefeuille, 21, Joshua Baffo, 19, Robert Freeman, 20.
Robert Rieneau, 20, remains at at large.
According to the arrest affidavit obtained by 9News, about 20 people were at the party in the 500 block of South Decatur Street. Perez told officers the teen put lighter fluid on himself and another person at the party lit him on fire.
Perez says he didn’t intervene because he was drunk.
One witness said Sibayan and Cummings poured the lighter fluid on the 14-year-old, who was passed out, and Perez tried to set him on fire, but his lighter wouldn’t work, so Sibayan did it.
Another account claimed boy asked to have the lighter fluid poured on him and to be lit on fire. Another witness said several of the men laughed as the boy was on fire and screamed for help, the affidavit said.
