Teen accused of scalding sister with hot water

PALERMO – A 17-year-old male was arrested on the Turner Ridge Road on Wednesday after reportedly scalding his 16-year-old sister with a pot of boiling water.

The boy was charged with aggravated assault and taken to the juvenile facility in Charleston after the 3:30 p.m. incident, according to Waldo County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Robert Keating. He remained there Thursday.

Keating said police were alerted to the incident when a distraught woman called the county dispatch center to report that the boy had burned his sister. Keating said the youth had been upset with his sister and also had been fighting with his mother.

He said family members were in the kitchen when the boy suddenly “batted” a pot of boiling water off the stove, splashing the water in the direction of his sister. Under Maine law, the boy can be charged whether or not he meant to injure his sister, police said.

The girl was taken by Delta Ambulance to Waldo County General Hospital in Belfast where she received treatment for second- and third-degree burns to her arms and hands, according to Lt. Bryant White. He said the girl was released from the hospital after treatment.

Lt. White and deputies Merl Reed and Ben Seekins responded to the call, Keating said Thursday.