30-05-2025
‘I screamed': Woman, toddler suffer 3rd-degree burns from charcoal buried in sand
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — It's a cautionary tale for beachgoers: a Hillsborough County mother said her 2-year-old son suffered a serious burn, and it wasn't a sunburn.
Taiji Goodson said her son, Armon, stepped on a hot piece of charcoal on Coquina Beach and was rushed to a local hospital.
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'I screamed with him,' Goodson explained. 'I cried with him.'
'I felt like I was finna pass out,' she continued. 'I was telling my sister we need to get to the car.'
'I'm forgetting my phone, baby bag, everything,' Goodson recalled. ''We have to get to the hospital, we have to go now.''
Goodson's cousin, Ja'Niya Davis, recalled the terrifying moment.
She said, within seconds, a fun day at the beach for Memorial Day turned into chaos.
'My mom's like, 'What's wrong, what's wrong?', and I was like gasp and I just started screaming,' Davis said. 'I couldn't talk, and I just put my hand in her face like 'my hand!''
Davis explained that someone left hot charcoals buried in the sand.
Not only did she feel her skin peel from her hand, but she had to see Armon feel that same pain on his foot.
'Just imagine your skin coming off in seconds and you didn't know,' she said. 'As soon as I put my hand in there, my skin instantly came off.'
Goodson said Armon was taken to Sarasota Memorial Hospital and then transported to Tampa General Hospital.
She said he has a long healing journey ahead.
As for Davis, she underwent surgery Wednesday.
'I honestly don't know how my hand looks, I was knocked out,' Davis said. 'I don't remember anything.'
'I just know they told me they were going to take all of the skin off and clean my hand,' she continued. 'Until next week, I won't know how it looks.'
'I just know it's burning and very, very uncomfortable,' Davis said.
News Channel 8 reporter Nicole Rogers asked, 'What would be your advice to people going out to the beach this summer?'
'To pour some cold water down, just check your areas for you and your kids, [and] keep shoes on at all times,' Davis replied. 'Just be careful.'
To donate to Armon's healing journey, click here.
To donate to Davis' healing journey, click here.
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