The family of a 3-year-old boy who died after contracting a fatal Naegleria fowleri amoeba at an Arlington splash pad in 2021 has reached a financial settlement with the city that includes protections and enhancements at city facilities.
Bakari Williams visited the splash pad at Arlington's Don Misenhimer Park in September 2021. The boy later became sick and was hospitalized with primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a rare and typically fatal infection caused by the naegleria fowleri amoeba. He died on Sept. 11.
An investigation confirmed the presence of the amoeba at the splash pad and the city identified gaps in its daily inspection program that resulted in maintenance failures.
The Williams family filed a wrongful death suit against the city, which operates the park. It accused the city of failing to maintain basic maintenance of the splash pad and failing to adequately treat the water supply.
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City officials have said records from two of its four splash pads, including the one Bakari visited, showed employees didn't consistently record, or in some cases didn't conduct, the water quality testing required prior to the facilities opening each day.
The lawsuit said city employees "failed to adequately monitor and chlorinate the city's splash pad water, making the splash pad unreasonably dangerous."
Lawyers representing the family said Thursday they obtained the maximum economic recovery allowed under Texas law, which the Associated Press has reported to be $250,000, along with enhanced safety measures at city parks, something Bakari's family was passionate about securing.
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"We want you to know that Bakari was a sweet, beautiful and innocent child. He did not deserve to die in the manner that he did. For us, this case has been about public awareness. We want to make certain that nothing like this ever happens again. We want to make certain that what happened to our son, what happened to our family, doesn't happen to anybody else," said Kayla Mitchell, Bakari's mother. "With the positive changes that the city has agreed to make, we are confident that we have met our goals."
As part of the settlement with the city, Arlington will invest in health and safety improvements at splash pads and aquatic facilities that will include technology that automatically shuts off the water when readings aren't within acceptable ranges. The facilities will also include state-of-the-art UV water treatment processes to kill bacteria. Lastly, the city will install signage at aquatic entrances with QR codes that will allow visitors to access current information about water quality at the location.
"I have faith in what we've been able to create, but I'm still obviously nervous, still scared, still kind of skeptical. But that's not something specific to Arlington, at this point I'm nervous of water, period," said Tariq Williams, Bakari's father. "If you guys don't take anything else from us today … it's preventable. As long as the proper precautions are taken, you get to go home with your little ones."
The water safety protocols are being called "The Bakari Williams Protocol," and the city is expected to share the procedures with other municipalities so that they, too, can make enhancements to water safety.
The new rules will be in place for the opening of Arlington's aquatics facilities this year.
"We plan to share this information with other agencies in the aquatics industry so they can learn from our hard lessons," the spokesman said.
