SOUTHWEST PHILADELPHIA (WTXF)- Philadelphia Police arrested a teenage boy after they say he assaulted a younger boy, leaving him with severe burns.
The incident occurred on Wednesday around 7:40 p.m. in Southwest Philadelphia.
"They gave me a shot, they gave me liquid medicine and at the end they put a special wrap on it," said 11-year-old Glenn Spears.
He's recovering from a traumatic experience. He just got out of the hospital after suffering second degree burns along the left side of his body.
"He started to spray it on us and when I was wiping it off he lit it on fire," said Glenn. Glenn says he was outside a friend's house Wednesday afternoon near 60th Street and Hazel Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia when he says 17-year-old Rayfiq Tiggle walked by holding hand sanitizer. One of the kids asked for some and said that's when Tiggle sprayed it on them and then held a lighter to Glenn's body.
"He told me not to tell anybody," said Glenn who ran home and tried to hide it from his mother.
She says she quickly noticed something was wrong. She says her son's skin was bubbling when she rushed him to the hospital.
"I don't understand it. It's crazy. It's a ludicrous act and at the end of the day it doesn't make any sense," said Kristal Manago, Glenn's mother.
Police got a description of the suspect from Glenn and his friends. They arrested Tiggle walking in the area of South 69th Street. They say he had two lighters on him. Glenn did not have on a shirt when he was burned because he had just come from swimming.
"It's totally unacceptable behavior, but it's something that could've been much worse. If he had clothing on and he sprayed his clothing, cotton clothing and the stuff ignited he could get burned up pretty well and possibly die," said Lieutenant John Walker with Southwest Detectives.
Kristal believes her son is still in shock despite his playful demeanor a day after.
"I don't think he understands the severity of the situation that went down. He's a child," she said.
Glenn will find out in a few days if he'll need skin graft surgery. Kristal says Tiggle had nothing to say when police brought him to the hospital to be identified by her son. Tiggle is being charged as an adult and is in jail on $100,000 bail.
Police say he may have learned what he did from seeing the dangerous prank online.