'Ding-dong ditch' prank leaves East Boston grandmother in hospital with serious injuries
EAST BOSTON - A game of "ding-dong-ditch" turned from fun to fear after a woman ends up hospitalized with severe injuries.
A group of teens has been ringing doorbells in an East Boston neighborhood. Gina Myers says her mother Ann had had enough. The kids ring her doorbell three to four times a week.
"My mother has stage two breast cancer, and two different forms of heart failure, kidney failure," explains Myers. "A lot of time when this happens, they wake her up. This time when it happened, she got up to run to the door."
The 69-year-old's blood pressure dropped, and she got dizzy. The woman fell onto a glass table. She was rushed to the hospital with severe internal bleeding, numerous fractures in her spine, along with other injuries. She required emergency life saving surgery.
"I called [the hospital] and said, 'I'm a half-an-hour away.' She said, 'You don't have a half-an-hour, your mother is bleeding out internally. She's in trauma one right now," said Myers. "The artery and the vessel in her hip popped or exploded."
Her mother survived the surgery and is back home with a walker recovering. She has a long process ahead to get back on her feet. Myers says her mother isn't the only elderly person impacted by the teens. WBZ-TV has heard from numerous neighbors who deal with the issue.
"Two gentleman live behind my mother and are very sick. They scream in his windows," said Myers.
Gina says the issues started over the summer with a group of girls pulling similar stunts. Myers caught them one day. The current group is made up of several boys.
The teens were caught on a surveillance camera across the street. They have been identified through their school. Educators have taken disciplinary action against the students and are requiring them to write letters of apology.
"You need to put yourself in someone else's situation. Every action has a cause and a reaction. You don't know whose doorbell you're ringing. You could ring someone's doorbell and they come and physically hurt you," said Myers. "Imagine yourself getting that phone call on your way home from school because your mother is dying."