After her arrest, Heather Rodriguez was accused with criminal child injury.
After allegedly leaving a toddler and an adolescent in her care alone, a babysitter in Texas was detained and charged with criminal harm to a child. The youngsters were then assaulted by the caregiver’s dogs.
Heather Rodriguez, 36, was looking after a 1-year-old child and a 13-year-old girl in the Central Texas town of Converse, according to Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar. According to Salazar, their initial inquiry suggested that Rodriguez had abandoned the kids with her four large American bullies.
Rodriguez, according to Salazar, put the kids in a bedroom, away from the dogs, since the latter were “known to cause damage.” Rodriguez left the house for an undisclosed reason.
After causing damage to a connected bathroom door, the dogs finally broke into the bedroom, according to Salazar.
Salazar said that as soon as the dogs entered the room, they started attacking the youngster.
“The 13-year-old was able to maintain control of the baby, but at this point, and what’s being described to me, it was almost a tug of war for the baby between at least one of the dogs and the little girl,” said the sheriff.
The adolescent girl spent “several minutes trying to fight them off” when the other dogs entered the battle, according to Salazar.
“At a certain point, she had to break away and physically left the baby behind in the bathroom,” stated the sheriff. As she went to fetch her phone to ask for assistance, she was assaulted.”
After successfully escorting the child into a different room, the girl dialed 911 and fortified herself inside. She had to shove against the door to keep the dogs from getting inside.
When deputies arrived, they assumed control of the situation and treated the 1-year-old with first aid before transporting him to the hospital.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Salazar stated, “From what we understand about the baby right now, he’s definitely in critical condition,” according to USA Today. “I’ve actually seen some pictures of the baby from our body camera video… it’s heartbreaking to see anybody in that condition.”
Due to damage to his esophagus and trachea, Salazar said the infant had “pretty severe head injuries” and was unable to breathe normally.
It was not known to the sheriff that Rodriguez owned “problematic” dogs, and he expressed his belief that “they would not have let (Rodriguez) care for their baby the way that they did had they known that these dogs were unsafe.”
He continued by saying that the adolescent girl’s prompt efforts probably saved the issue from being lot worse than it is.
“I’ve got to be honest, the 13-year-old in this instance, I’m considering her a hero,” Salazar said. “I think her actions led to the baby not being mauled even more seriously, or even killed as a result of this savage dog attack.”
Child Protective Services has been contacted to keep an eye on the welfare of both kids, with a focus on the toddler’s physical health and the teenager’s mental health.
Rodriguez has been cited for allowing her dogs to run free without a leash in addition to her felony charge of harm to a kid. It’s evident that two of the dogs took part in the assault, but maybe all of them did, according to the sheriff.
“Obviously, for me, any dog that took part in it needs to be put down,” Salazar stated. “As heartbreaking as that sounds, the life of a little baby is much more important.”
Salazar claimed that despite the fact that her dogs had attacked and hurt two of the children in her care, Rodriguez was more worried about them being taken away. Bexar County Animal Control is now in charge of the dogs, and they will decide what happens to them.
“If we’re able to find out that one of the dogs, or several of the dogs were not responsible, then fine,” Salazar stated. “Perhaps those can go back, but (Rodriguez) seemed to be more concerned with what was going on with those dogs than with the fact that her inaction (and) her omissions almost caused the death of a baby.”
