At the end of April, the story of Dominick Krankall shocked the entire United States, for representing one of the most terrible cases of bullying in living memory.
The 6-year-old minor was assaulted, presumably, by his 8 year old neighborwho would have a long history of abuse and mistreatment against the child.
The story of the incident, which began after Dom received a ball on fire right on his face, forever changed his family’s life.
However, one GoFundMe campaign With an objective sense, he is restoring hope to his parents and sister.
This is the story of the little Dominicki Krankall and her struggle to survive bullying.
The attack on Dominick Krankall
Sunday afternoon April 24 of 2022 seemed as calm as any other in the town of Bridgeportin Connecticut (USA).
Dominick and his family were enjoying a sunny spring day, until evening came. After lunch, everything would change for the Krankall family, and it would make the 6-year-old will fight for his life like never before.
At about 2:00 p.m., Dom – as his parents kindly call him – heard a call from his neighbor and other children telling him to approach the shed.
Excited to play, even with those minors who were not nice to him, the boy went to the place with the longing to hang out. However, this would be far from reality.
“As soon as he came downstairs, the bully called his name and lured him around the corner, and within seconds he was back yelling: ‘Mommy, help me! They set me on fire!’”, commented his sister Kayla Deegan According to The Independent mediaadding that as a result of the aggression the minor was left with serious second and third degree burns on his face and legs.
The first inquiries
After the fact, Dominick was referred urgently to the Bridgeport Hospital, where he remains in the Burn Unit. The doctors in charge of his treatment were dismayed, they did not believe that the minor was alive and that there survived to such a heavy attack.
In parallel, the Connecticut State Police Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit began investigating the incident in conjunction with the Bridgeport Fire Department, who after the first few hours were able to some lights of what happened.
Dominick’s neighbor would have sprayed “a ball with gasoline, set it on fire and threw it at. All in a matter of seconds. Dom has second and third degree burns to his face and leg. He will be marked for life mentally and physicallyKayla declared. on the GoFundMe page created for her brother in order to raise funds for his recovery.
“My little brother Dom has been harassed by the neighbors for a while. (But) he stepped up to deadly intent. Dominick, my 6 year old brother I could have diedKayla added.
Despite the accusations against him, Laura Giacobbemother of the 8-year-old boy accused of being the aggressor, stated that her son had nothing to do with the incident and asked people not to draw hasty conclusions.
“We had a horrible tragedy recently and our thoughts are with the injured boy. We hope that interested persons wait before jumping to conclusions or make assumptions about what happened until officials have made their determinations,” he stated, according to reported by Univisión.
The history of bullying against Dominick
Despite Giacobbe’s statements, the truth is that Dominick’s family affirmed that the minor has been the victim of a long history of bullying by his 8-year-old neighbor and his 11-year-old brother.
It all started when the Krankall family moved to Bridgeport about a year ago. Maria RuaDominick’s mother, recounted details of the bullying suffered by her son to the British newspaper Daily Mail.
The woman recounted that her son was constantly terrorized by his 8-year-old neighbor and his brother, and that he was even beaten so hard with a pillow once that he fell on his back, suffered a concussion and had to spend a night in the emergency room to be monitored.
In another instance, the mother asserted, the neighbor would have chased his son with an ax and, on another occasion, I would have burned the bike a Dominick.
Rua affirmed that on several occasions she has talked about this subject with her neighbor, Laura Giacobbe, but that the woman has ignored all your complaints and even denies that his son bullied Dom.
“She denies it and will never admit that her son did something wrong”declared the shocked mother of the 6-year-old boy.
“Please don’t take me there”
After the horrible incident that affected Dominick, his sister Kayla decided to open the aforementioned page in GoFundMe in the hope of raising money and giving the minor a better life to future.
“We’re seeking help for a new home because it’s not safe here. This bully has gotten away with it too much and has a history of harassment. The mother believes that he is innocent. The family thinks it’s a joke,” the sister said.
To this, he added that “Although Dominick cannot speak because he is in a lot of pain and everything is swollen, told my mom: ‘Please don’t take me there’ -in reference to her current home-. Anything helps, even a part. Thanks for all the support. I’m sure Dominick appreciates it.”
“This is extremely unfair and it should never happen to any child! We need justice for our little Dominick,” Deegan concluded.
The response of the people, dismayed by this case, has been truly amazing. Although Kayla set a fundraising goal 50 thousand dollarshas far exceeded that number.
Until the closing of this note, the donations exceeded 585 thousand dollars -506 million Chilean pesos- and continue to risegiving the Krankall family their “ticket out” so that Dom can recover in the best possible way, away from her alleged abuser.
The recuperation
Through this same page, Kayla has been updating the donors and those interested in the case about the recovery of the small Dominick.
After days of intense care, at the end of April the woman published that Dom was in a little better health and that, after having remained with his mouth and face completely swollen, he was able to eat a couple of bites by himself, in addition to drinking soup with the help of a light bulb.
“Dominick he is such a happy and lucky boy and they were all his friends, no matter what. All she ever wanted to do was ride a bike, play basketball, and go fishing. Now he has to lying in bed for months until I can walk outside again. It breaks my heart over and over again. My poor baby has pain every day and there is not much we can do,” he declared.
Meanwhile, this May 7, he added that the minor must undergo surgery. “Yesterday we received news that Dominick will most likely need a skin graft on the forehead. That’s the deepest burn and it’s just not healing the way it should,” she said.
Along with this, he said that although his brother has been in better spirits, they are seeing psychological repercussions of the attack that suffered.
“We have noticed that some mental problems related to things with fire and gasoline smell. My mom was putting gas in the car and he sniffed and freaked out thinking something was going to happen. It’s sad, but we’ll do everything in our power to make sure feel safe at all times. Please continue to keep Dom in his prayers, thank you all so much,” he expressed.
Despite this, Kayla remains optimistic. “The amount of love and support that Dominick has received from the community is absolutely amazing. I can’t even begin to explainhow grateful we are to have such a wonderful and supportive group of people in the Doms circle (…) After such a terrible attack, really I didn’t think there were more good people in the world,” he said, opening a ray of hope for the future of his brother Dom.