BLYTHEWOOD – Following the Town’s Rockin’ Red White and Blue fireworks celebration on July 3, at Doko Park, the Town government reported that a teen was arrested and charged with Aggravated Breach of Peace after shooting a splat (toy) gun in the park and was transported to Alvin S. Glenn detention center. But there were other disturbances reported as well including a Roman candle and other fireworks being set off by attendees in the crowd which was reported by Town Hall to be as large as 13,000 people.
There were also reports by witnesses but not acknowledged by Town Hall that a young girl was injured – by some reports, by the splat guns and by other reports, by the Roman candle – and that an ambulance on site at the park was unable to transport the injured girl out of the park because of the large crowd size.
It was also reported in The Voice that witnesses saw the injured girl then wheeled on a stretcher from the park to Langford Road, then down Langford Road to the parking lot of Home Advantage Realty office at the intersection of Langford Road and Main Street in downtown Blythewood where she was transferred to another ambulance that was called to assist in the transport.
At the time, The Voice was unable to verify this information with Town Hall, the Richland County EMS or Blythewood’s RCSD Station Six.
An RCSD public information officer responded to The Voice that there were no incident reports other than the one filed concerning the arrest of the 15-year-old male.
However, last week, a spokesperson for Richland County verified that a person was transported from Doko Park by Richland County EMS.
“I think what happened is that we did have a dedicated ambulance on site, but there was one individual that needed medical assistance, so they called in the closest EMS to transport that individual,” EMS Director Susan O’Cain told The Voice.
