Child allegedly sprays another in the eye with fire extinguisher at East Coast Park, police called

An outing to a Burger King outlet in East Coast Park's Coastal PlayGrove turned ugly for two families after a child allegedly sprayed another in the eyes with a fire extinguisher last night (May 22).

The series of videos uploaded by TikToker Kakading last night detailed the sequence of events, beginning with an argument between the two families after the alleged incident with the fire extinguisher happened.

The first video showing the argument has since garnered over 800,000 views and more than 19,000 likes.

According to Kakading, a child was allegedly playing with a fire extinguisher attached to a pillar in that Burger King outlet, and accidentally sprayed the child of another nearby family with it.

In the video, a woman on the side of the victim's family, presumably the mother, began shouting and berating the offending family's parents.

"You all [can't do this]," the woman could be heard screaming.

"My mistake," a man, likely the father of the wrongdoer, could be heard saying as he repeatedly apologised.

The video did not show how the victim's family responded to the father's apologies.

In another video uploaded by Kakading, the police and medical personnel could be seen at the fast-food outlet, having arrived at the scene "within 10 [minutes]", said the TikTok user. 

Police then searched the area for CCTV cameras and spoke to both families and their children, Kakading wrote on her TikTok video.

Kakading also added a fourth video on the incident, claiming that the victim was instructed by his parents to wash his eyes "immediately after the extinguisher powder was sprayed" at him.

This TikTok user said the child that had purportedly played with the extinguisher was "[astonished] when the extinguisher … 'exploded'".

"He looked clearly scared when Kid A's parent (the victim's parents) shouted at them, preventing them from leaving, while calling the police," Kakading also wrote.

Netizens on TikTok felt that the parents of the aberrant child were too negligent to begin with and should have done more to help the victim's family.

"They should educate their children and if the other kid was hurt, they should cover the medical expenses too," one TikTok user commented.

"Parents should always parent their kids," another user said.

Other netizens, however, thought it would be difficult for a child to operate a fire extinguisher and wondered if there were no safety features on the extinguisher.

"Isn't there supposed to be a safety key on the fire extinguisher?" One user questioned.

Responding to queries by AsiaOne, a police spokesperson said that they were alerted to an incident of a rash act at 902 East Coast Park at about 7.35pm on May 22.

Police investigations are ongoing.

According to the Singapore Civil Defence Force's (SCDF) code of practice for the use and maintenance of portable fire extinguishers, the fire extinguishers should have both a safety pin and seal for it.

TikTok user Kakading later shared her reasons for uploading these videos: To raise awareness about parenting issues and "for establishments to take note of such incidents on safety equipments."

"Fire extinguishers [could] be placed in a cabinet … with breakable glass in the middle," Kakading suggested.

AsiaOne has reached out to Burger King Singapore for comment.

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khooyihang@asiaone.com