Teenager Hospitalized After Stepping On Used Needle In Rockland

ROCKLAND (CBS) -- A teenager was hospitalized after he stepped on a used needle at a Rockland pond on Sunday, fire officials said.

Rockland firefighters said they responded to an island on Reed Pond, where the 16-year-old had been fishing. They found eight more used needles in the surrounding area.

The boy's mother took him to the hospital for evaluation.

Rockland ambulance crews say the risk of being stuck by a needle is an everyday fact of life for them.

"It's a big problem," says Patrick Sammon, a Rockland paramedic. "You worry about finding needles on scene, on people, you worry about the communicable diseases that they have that we might contract."

The issue of used hypodermic needles is not just a problem in the town of Rockland. Heroin use has exploded in the Bay State and now a teenage boy has become an innocent victim.

"It's a huge tragedy and you hate to see that happen to innocent people," Sammon said.