SEATTLE — An Aberdeen motel manager doesn’t know how a syringe ended up in a bunk bed where a 9-year-old girl was stuck with the needle as she slipped between the sheets.
The girl’s family is concerned that the girl may have picked up a disease such as HIV or hepatitis after the incident Friday. They were told it could take months of blood tests to find out for sure.
Angie Smith told KOMO-TV the needle poked her daughter Emily in the right heel at the GuestHouse Inn and Suites, where the family was attending a softball tournament.
“There were syringes, plastic bag, bloody bandage all underneath the mattress cover. We were really shocked and freaking out,” Smith told KOMO. “It scared us to death.”
The incident also distressed manager Angel Housden, who was called back to the 87-room motel from home because of the incident and the family.
“This is just a horrible situation for all parties,” she said Wednesday.
Housden insisted on calling police after the family initially refused, she said. An officer went to the room, found two syringes on the upper bunk bed and put them in a plastic bag for the family to take to a hospital.
The father declined to move the family to another room or allow motel staff to search the room, which also has a king-size bed and a pull-out couch, Housden said.
The staff was allowed to change the bedding on the bunk beds.
The father also asked to stay free at the motel for the weekend. Housden said she’s not authorized to agree to that on her own, but said it would be investigated.
“The man said if I do not give him that room and another for free, then it was not going to stop there and it would get a lot bigger,” Housden said.
The family stayed but again asked to be “comped” when they checked out Sunday.
“They got extremely irate about the situation,” Housden said. “They were extremely verbally abusive to the front desk.”
Police were called and as the family left, “they said this was not going to stop here,” Housden said.
The family was angry because they felt accused, Angie Smith said.
“Their answer was, ‘No, we’re going to investigate’ like we did something wrong. That’s why we’re we are so upset. We are not in the wrong here,” she told KOMO.
The motel owner is looking into the complaint, Housden said.
The previous occupant of the room was “a corporate person,” Housden said. The room had been cleaned and inspected by housekeepers.
The officer who responded found two syringes under a mattress pad, next to the mattress, said Aberdeen police Capt. John Green. One syringe had a broken needle and one had a small amount of fluid, Green said.
The parents had asked the motel employee not to call police, according to police report. The officer determined it was a medical issue, not a criminal case, and gave the syringes to the father for testing.
Grays Harbor Community Hospital spokesman David Quigg said it could not comment.
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