Girl Injured in Acid Attack Discharged From Hospital

Rachel Ogawa, the young girl attacked with acid in a public park a week ago, is “very happy to be home and happy to be back with Michelle, her younger sister,” her father said Sunday.

The 4-year-old La Habra girl was sent home Saturday from St. Jude Hospital in Fullerton where she had undergone weeklong treatment for burns suffered during the Jan. 18 assault at Los Coyotes Regional Park in Buena Park.

Gary Ogawa said his daughter had wanted to come home and “so long as we were certain we could make adequate arrangements for her outpatient care, we would bring her home.

“In terms of her eyes and skin, she has really improved, and we doubt that she will have any further problems with her eyes or face,” he said.

The girl’s eyes had been swollen shut immediately after the attack and there had been concern that she would suffer permanent damage.

“Our main concern is with the burns which cover a fairly large part of her body,” Ogawa said. “Those will be treated on a daily basis. They will give her whirlpool treatments and do all the bandaging.”

The girl and her mother, Elaine Ogawa, were leaving a park restroom following a family picnic when they were confronted by a man who doused Rachel with two cups of what was later determined to be acetic acid.

Mark Edward Hand, a 26-year-old former mental patient who was recently paroled from prison in Texas, was arrested two days later near his parents’ home in Whittier as a suspect in the attack.

Hand, being held in lieu of $100,000 bail, is to be arraigned Friday on two counts of aggravated assault with a caustic chemical.