PALM BAY, Fla. – A 2-year-old boy is home from the hospital after being attacked by a swarm of bees at a Palm Bay day care center.
According to a Palm Bay police report, the boy was attacked while he was playing outside at Woodlake Child Development Center on Tuesday morning.
Daycare staff members told police they had to use a garden hose to get the bees off of him.
His mother told News 6 she came to pick up 2-year-old Julian after she got a call from the day care center.
"They picked him up from the corner where he's standing with no shirt, no pants, just a diaper and a pair of shoes," said Brittney Forsman. "His face was so puffy to the point where I knew he was in trouble."
Forsman said she rushed her son to Palm Bay Hospital, where nurses began treating him with anti-histamine and steroids.
She said Julian kept gagging and throwing up.
"Finally, he rubbed his nose, and I squeezed it from (the top) and pulled it," she said. "A bee came out."
She said the bee had been stuck in his sinus cavity for two hours.
"When we counted everything -- we couldn't see the ones in his hair -- it was 22 stings altogether," she said.
Forsman told News 6 her child has been stung before at the daycare facility, and she's angry the staff didn't call an ambulance.
According to the police report, the owner of the daycare center told police she knew she had a problem with bees, but exterminators were not successful in removing them.
Forsman asked the Department of Children and Families to investigate.
Investigators say they found no evidence of abuse or neglect, but they told the day care center owner to get rid of the bees.
Forsman says that's not enough, and she's not ruling out legal action to make sure this doesn't happen to another child.
