Girl, 4, Hit by Acid Will Not Lose Eyesight

A 4-year-old La Habra girl who was attacked with acid while on a family outing at a park will not lose her eyesight, a hospital official said Monday.

“As far as her eyesight goes, I’ve spoken with her physician and he thinks it should be good,” said Norm Anderson of St. Jude Hospital in Fullerton. However, Anderson said, there is chance that young Rachel Ogawa suffered corneal damage as a result of the unexplained attack upon her at Los Coyotes Regional Park in Fullerton Saturday afternoon.

Burned on Face

The girl and her mother were just leaving a restroom when an unidentified man threw two cups of acid at her, police said, inflicting first- and second-degree burns on her face, chest, arms and legs.

“She is in fair condition and is in less pain that she was yesterday,” Anderson said. “Her eyes are badly swollen, but she’s resting comfortably.”

Anderson said doctors presently see no need for surgery.

Meanwhile, police said Monday they still have not identified the girl’s assailant or established a reason for the attack.

Checking on Leads

“We’re recontacting witnesses to see if we can come up with a composite drawing of this guy,” Officer Terry Branum said. “We also have some leads that came in overnight through the media attention this drew and we’re following up on those.”

Investigators are also trying to get fingerprints from two cups that were recovered at the scene. Authorities have still not determined what kind of acid was in the cups, according to Branum.

“It was sent to the laboratory today, but it will take a couple of days to get it analyzed,” he said.

The girl’s family had gone to the park Saturday for a picnic and were getting ready to leave when the attack occured, according to Branum. While Rachel’s father, Gary Ogawa, and a younger sister went to get the car, Rachel and her mother, Elaine, stopped at the restroom.

When they came out, they were confronted by a man described as a Latino of medium build, between 18 and 20 years old, who quickly threw the contents of the cups at the child.

Witnesses, who saw the man flee in a faded yellow pickup truck, said he appeared to have scars on his face, “as if he had been burned at one time,” Branum said.

The mother carried her daughter to car and she and her husband began searching for a park ranger. When the girl began screaming in pain, her father carried her to a nearby pond and immersed her in the water.