A child was stabbed during a fight between a group of children at Whittington Park in Ardmore, Oklahoma, on Sunday, leaving one 11-year-old with wounds that were not life-threatening. The other child involved, also 11, was taken into custody and moved to a youth detention facility, according to police.
The confrontation began after an earlier disagreement between the two children escalated into a physical fight, according to KXII. During that fight, one child stabbed the other with a kitchen knife, per KTEN, which reported the injured child was stabbed once in the arm and back. The injured child is expected to be okay, according to authorities, as reported by News 9.
Conflicting Details on the Extent of the Injuries
Accounts of the stabbing differ slightly on the nature of one wound. KXII's initial report said the child was stabbed once in the arm and once in the back, while a later report from the same station described the knife causing an arm injury along with what it called a small cut on the back. The station's coverage does not resolve which description is accurate, and the injured child was treated and released after the wounds were determined not to be life-threatening.
The child accused of wielding the knife was taken into custody after the stabbing and moved to a youth detention facility, per police accounts relayed by the same station. The district attorney's office is reviewing the case for possible charges, though no charges have been confirmed as filed.
What State Rules Say About Detaining Young Children
Placing a child that young in secure juvenile detention is not something Oklahoma allows lightly. Under the state's amended plan for juvenile detention services, filed with the Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs, no child age 12 or younger is supposed to be placed in a juvenile detention facility unless every alternative has been exhausted and the child is currently charged with an offense that would be a felony if committed by an adult.
Details that would typically round out a story like this — the children's names, the exact time of the fight, or which specific facility now holds the other child — have not been made public. Ardmore police have not released additional information beyond confirming the fight, the stabbing, and the custody status of the other child involved.
