Toddler pricked by dirty needle found on changing table in Northeast Ohio public bathroom

On Apr 19, 2022

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) -A toddler got pricked by a dirty and potentially dangerous needle left in a public Northeast Ohio bathroom.

His mother was changing his diaper when it happened.

She’s got a message for other parents, and she’s concerned that law enforcement and health officials are not taking what happened seriously.

We’re investigating– why?

“Ouchie” is about all 2-year-old Deacon Jett can tell you about what happened to him earlier this month.

His mom Hannah Jett can tell you the rest though, and it’s shocking.

“I’m just really stressed out,” she said.

Jett says she was eating with her family at a nearby restaurant that didn’t have a changing table.

So, she ran across the street to use the one at a Speedway real quick.

After wiping down the table came the challenge most all parents know.

“I was just fighting with him to get his diaper on, and then all the sudden he’s like, ‘ouchie’ and he’s holding a needle,” Jett said.

It was an apparently used needle. She took a picture of it and believes an illegal drug may have once been inside it.

It punctured Deacon’s hand.

“I see blood it was just terrible,” she said.

Thankfully– he seems to be acting like he’s alright.

Jett said, “I work in healthcare. So, I knew that you need to make it bleed and then wash it with soap and water.”

Then, she took her son and the needle to the hospital to be tested for infectious diseases like HIV and Hepatitis.

Deacon’s results came back negative late last week, however, he will have to undergo the testing several more times.

“It’s just so nerve-racking because I’m just like terrified. Sometimes they don’t test positive right away. So, he’s gonna have to get blood tests in three months and six months as well.”

JEtt thinks the needle that hurt him was hidden in a compartment where the sanitary napkins go.

“I think the needle was stowed in there, and he must have just grabbed it whenever I was putting the diaper on,” she said. “That’s someplace you would never check either.”

And, here’s what’s also concerning– officials didn’t really seem to care about what happened.

Jett says she called Akron Police last week and the department told her to come down in person to file a report.

When she got there, however, she says the officer on duty didn’t take a report and instead told her it wasn’t a police matter.

Jett also called the Heath department.

A spokesperson told us that should have triggered an inspector to go out and follow up.

But, that didn’t happen.

This is what the department’s Division of Environmental Health Director said in full in her email:

So, it wasn’t until 19 Investigates contacted the health department that summit county sent an inspector to the gas station.

Jett wonders if bathroom drug use is just so common, that it’s not taken seriously.

For years, police have warned that drug users often shoot up in public bathrooms right after their purchase.

“If these transactions are occurring at service stations, gas stations, public restrooms more times than not we’re seeing that these people are actually going to administer that drug right away,” a Kent Police officer told 19 News in 2017.

Just a few weeks ago Lyndhurst Police responded to find a woman overdosing in the bathroom of the Cheesecake Factory in Legacy Village.

Jett said, “Like you hear crazy things happening, but you don’t think it’s ever gonna happen to you or it’s not gonna happen in Canton or Akron, and it’s just really scary.”

Her message to parents is that they themselves need to take note, because they may be the only ones looking out.

“I just wanted to let parents know that this is possible,” she said. “I just I mean check the changing table and it’s something like you probably wouldn’t have thought of to look for needles.”

We reached out to Speedway to find out whether it had taken any action at the store where the incident happened.

A spokesperson for Speedway’s parent company, 7-Eleven, Inc., responded saying, “The safety of our customers and associates is our top priority. We are deeply concerned about this incident and have been in contact with the customer impacted. The restroom has been thoroughly sanitized.”