WASHINGTON — A Montgomery County mother is accused of abusing her 4-year-old so severely that the girl had to be hospitalized.
Iris Hernandez Rivas, 20, called 911 Thursday, Jan. 28 to report that she found her 4-year-old daughter unresponsive, face down in the bathtub. She told police the girl had started the shower herself, adding when she found her daughter, she waited one hour to call 911.
She later admitted to police that the previous morning, she had kicked her daughter in the abdomen, causing the girl to fall backward and hit her head on a wall. Hernandez Rivas — a Gaithersburg resident — said her daughter appeared lethargic, went to the bathroom and turned on the shower. The 20-year-old said she went into check the girl and found her face down in the tub.
Hernandez Rivas told police she was angry with her daughter for not brushing her teeth.
The girl is at Children’s National Medical Center in D.C. where she was in critical condition Monday.
At the hospital, medical staff found multiple bruises on the girl’s body from physical abuse, according to police. Hernandez Rivas later told police that she had hit her daughter with a belt several days prior.
Montgomery County police arrested Hernandez Rivas Thursday. She is charged with one count of first-degree child abuse and one count of first-degree assault. She is being held without bond.
