A Huntington Beach parent is asking for help reaching the family of a young boy after describing two separate incidents that occurred months apart during children’s birthday celebrations at Central Park.
The concern was shared in a post on the Huntington Beach Community Forum v. 2.0 Facebook group by Em Pershall. According to the post, the first encounter happened in September of last year during a birthday party that featured a bounce house.
Pershall said a boy, believed to be around 10 years old, arrived on an orange BMX bicycle and politely asked if he could join the party and use the bounce house. The hosts welcomed him and allowed him to participate with the other children.
After about an hour, however, several children reportedly left the bounce house crying. Pershall said the boy had been playing too roughly with the younger kids. After speaking with him several times about his behavior, the family eventually asked him to leave.
Months later, during another birthday celebration at Central Park, Pershall said the same situation appeared to happen again.
While cleaning up after the party, Pershall noticed a boy inside the bounce house whom the family did not recognize. According to the post, he was pushing younger children to the ground and jumping onto their stomachs. After multiple conversations about playing safely, he was again asked to leave.
The boy reportedly rode away on an orange BMX bicycle, prompting Pershall to realize he was the same child from the earlier incident.
Pershall emphasized that the post was not intended to shame the child or his family. Instead, the parent expressed hope that the message might reach his parents, saying that if it were their own child, they would want to know about the behavior so it could be addressed.
Community members offer differing opinions
The Facebook post quickly generated discussion among residents, with many offering different perspectives on how the situation should be handled.
Laurel Gurley commented that she was not surprised by the story and suggested the boy may regularly visit the park looking for birthday parties with bounce houses.
Andrew Castro asked whether the bicycle was an orange BMX or an electric bike. Pershall later replied that it was an orange BMX.
Maria Arredondo described the situation as sad and suggested the child may be troubled, expressing hope that someone would intervene before future problems developed.
Not everyone agreed with making the issue public. Kelly Thompson criticized the post, sarcastically referring to the “Facebook police.” Pershall responded by asking how else a parent could reasonably get in touch with the child’s family if they did not know who they were.
The discussion continued as Kelly Hughes Davis called the boy a potential psychopath, while Tyler Best objected to labeling a child and urged people not to make assumptions about possible mental health issues. Lesli Lytle also criticized the tone of some responses, saying public shaming was not the right approach.
The original post concluded with Pershall repeating that the goal was simply to reach the child’s parents so they could be aware of the reported behavior and help guide him in a positive direction.
