Ottawa police are investigating after a 10-year-old boy bit into a small chocolate bar and found a sewing needle inside it.
Ethan Bailey’s stepmother says he received the candy when he went trick-or-treating in the Thistledown Court area in Barrhaven on Halloween night.
“We were eating supper, and after supper…he got a chocolate bar, and he bit it into it, and he just showed me the needle,” said Lisa, 10-year-old Ethan Bailey’s stepmother. “It was kind of unnerving to find what we found.”
She called police, who came over and collected the Snickers mini chocolate bar and the needle.
Bailey’s stepmother said she and the boy’s father checked all of his Halloween treats carefully, “but it’s pretty hard to find a pinhole in a little chocolate bar.”
“It was sticking out of the bottom, so he felt it with his tooth, and it didn’t go in his mouth, thank goodness,” she said.
A neighbour whose child had been trick-or-treating with Bailey on Halloween called the needle discovery upsetting.
“It kind of freaks you out, that it’s just in this Court area, that’s the only place we went,” said neighbour Shelly Ahrens. “Trick-or-treating might be out for a while, I don’t know if we’re going to do it again. It’s getting more and more dangerous every year, maybe we’ll have to throw a party or something (instead),” she added.
Police in Nova Scotia are investigating at least six cases of needles and pins being found in Halloween treats.
Police in the U.S., including in Michigan, Wisconsin, and North Carolina, are investigating similar cases.
Ottawa police are reminding parents to always carefully screen their children’s Halloween candy, and call police if they find anything suspicious.
