BOSTON — A 9-year-old Boston Pop Warner football player is sharing his traumatizing experience of falling on a littered needle during practice.
It happened back on October 12th while the child was running laps with the Boston Bengals at Clifford Park in Roxbury.
The 4th grader told Boston 25 News he felt a pinch and saw a needle sticking into his leg.
“I just grabbed the needle and threw it as far as I can,” he recalled. “I got scared. I screamed, help!”
He was rushed to Boston Medical Center and prescribed a month-long regimen of two medications to protect him from potential blood borne viruses like HIV and Hepatitis.
“It’s not fair. I’m only a little kid,” he said. “I don’t want people to suffer taking medicine like this.”
The 9-year-old, who Boston 25 News is not identifying, was brave enough to return to practice following the incident.
However, his mother has since pulled him from the team after finding out that more needles were still being found at Clifford Park.
“I told my son, don’t go no more because it seems like it’s not getting better,” said the mother. “The kids should not be scared to go to the place where they belong.”
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu held a news conference at Clifford Park last week to address on-going concerns related to the nearby Mass and Cass corridor.
Mayor Wu said the city has collected more than 200,000 needles from the streets of Boston since January.
Boston 25 News has been reporting on littered needles at Clifford Park for years now.
Boston Bengals football coach Domingos DaRosa said more than 40 players have dropped out of the program since the incident involving the 9-year-old.
He said he only has 20 players left and isn’t sure that’s enough to close out the season.
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