Decades ago, the weapon of choice for vindictive high school girls was common household drain cleaner containing weapons grade sulfuric acid.
The mean girls would sneak the liquid into school and fling it in the face of their enemies, then stand by and watch the girl’s face melt off. Some states wised up and required a plumber’s or contractor’s ID to buy drain cleaners containing almost 100 percent sulfuric acid. Georgia is not one of those states.
A Henry County woman recently woke up after 2 months in a drug-induced coma. Christy Sims, 43, told Channel 2 Action News that her ex-boyfriend intentionally threw drain cleaner into her face because she was about to break up with him. The divorced mother of 2 is encouraged that Henry County police recently opened an investigation in her case.
Despite multiple surgeries, Sims’ face is horribly disfigured and her upper torso and arms were also burned by the caustic liquid.
“My entire face has been destroyed. My body is destroyed. I’m burned over 20 percent of my body,” Sims told Channel 2’s Tom Regan.
Sims said the incident happened at her Henry County home in April. She said her ex-boyfriend, who wasn’t identified in a report on Channel 2’s website, called her into the bathroom to bring him a towel. When she arrived in the doorway, she said she saw him standing in a pool of water and holding a bowl in his hands. In the brief seconds that it took her brain to process the scene, she feared something was about to happen.
“He didn’t actually fall, he just jerked forward and took the bowl and doused it in my face,” Sims recalled.
Screaming in pain, Sims ran to the sink to rinse off her face. “Please call 911, please call 911,” Sims yelled to him as he mumbled something about an accident.
In the 911 call obtained by Channel 2 Action News, the 911 operator can be heard telling the man to put Sims in the shower. This advice was repeated several times by the 911 operator, but the man apparently ignored it.
“We were just putting it in the toilet and we slipped,” the man told the 911 operator. You can then hear him speaking to Sims in the background, “Sit down, baby, sit down,” he said.
“This is Henry County 911 – is she in the shower?” the 911 operator asked.
“No,” the man replied.
“Where is she now?” asked the 911 operator.
“She is on the floor,” he replied.
“Did it get in her eyes as well?” the 911 operator asked.
“Is it in your eyes?” the man asked Sims.
“Yes,” Sims responded.
“It sounds like she needs to get in the shower,” the operator instructed.
“I found out later, 911 poison control told him to rinse me off and I kept telling him please, my skin,” Sims told Regan. “He said, they said to sit down and wait for the ambulance because if you rinse yourself off, you’re going to ignite the chemical,” said Sims.
“He made it to look like an accident. But [if] you think about it, why would you put drain cleaner in a bowl? Why would there be so much water on the floor, when there was no water in the tub unless you put it there. I don’t think he was trying to kill me, I think he was trying to make me unattractive because he doused it right in my face,” Sims said.
The brand of drain cleaner used in the attack contains 93% sulfuric acid. According to the company website, the drain cleaner “Quickly dissolves grease, hair, paper, food, rags and other organic obstructions.”
“These chemicals don’t take very long once they are in contact with the skin to start causing trouble,” Gaylord Lopez managing director of the Georgia Poison Center told Regan. “It’s critical to get the poisons off the skin and out of the eyes. Out of the mouth,” Lopez continued.
Channel 2 unwisely named the brand of drain cleaner, but the station didn’t name the spineless coward who used it as a weapon.
According to Channel 2, a magistrate judge recently denied an arrest warrant request citing lack of evidence of intent. But Sims vows to keep fighting for justice.
“I have kids. I have a 10-year-old and a 13-year-old. They need me. There is no way I’m laying down. There is no way… I’m fighting,” Sims said.
Donations to help Christy Sims pay her medical bills can be made here.
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