Mom Says Son Burned by Teens After Refusing to Play at Playground

A suburban Chicago mother wants justice for her son after she says a group of teenagers burned him when he refused to play with them at a local park.

The incident unfolded in Plainfield Saturday when 14-year-old Sean Johnson went on a stroll with his friend Caleb Fleming through the city’s West Norman Greenway park.

The boys said they passed by a group of teens at a nearby playground when the older teens tried to coax the pair into joining them as they experimented with hair spray and lighter. 

“I thought, ‘This is going to be trouble,’” Johnson said, adding the two kept walking after declining the invitation.

That is when the pair says the teens came up from behind and attacked Johnson, leaving him with third-degree burns on his right arm. 

“When they came up to me they lit hairspray with a lighter making a blow torch or flame throwing and [pointed it] on my arm,” Johnson said.

Fleming, who witnessed his friend being burned by the teens, said the attackers seemed surprised by what happened and fled the scene.

“The look on their face was, ‘Oh no, what did we do,’” Fleming said. “So they said, ‘Let’s get out of here,’ and they ran that way.”

As the three teenaged attackers fled, the two boys ran to find help.

“I went into mom mode to get him to the ER right away and get looked at,” said Johnson’s mom, Julie Johnson.

Johnson's mother says she just wants other parents to be aware.

"I want everyone to see what this can do,” Johnson said.

Neither Fleming nor Johnson said they recognized the teens, but they described them as being ages 15 to 17 with short blond hair, wearing jeans.

Plainfield police said they are investigating the incident and are focusing their investigation on Plainfield North High School.