Mugshot for Iris Hernandez-Rivas (Montgomery County Police Department)
Police are saying a 4-year-old Maryland girl died after her mother kicked her in the stomach for not brushing her teeth.
Iris Hernandez-Rivas, 20, had called police Wednesday to report finding her daughter Nohely Alexandra Martinez Hernandez unresponsive in their home in Gaithersburg near Washington, FOX 5 DC reported.
Hernandez-Rivas told police that her daughter had gone to the bathroom around 11 a.m. to take a shower. She said that about 15 minutes later she found the girl lying face down in the bathtub, but waited an hour to call 911.
The little girl was transported to the hospital in serious condition. Once there doctors discovered Nohely had multiple bruises on her body and was suffering from head trauma.
She was then taken to the Children’s National Medical Center in D.C. in critical condition. Cops told Fox 5 Friday she had died.
Police said that in an interview Thursday Hernandez-Rivas admitted kicking her daughter in the abdomen after becoming angry because Nohely had not brushed her teeth, the station reported.
The woman told cops that Nohely hit her head when she fell backwards into a wall after being kicked.
Hernandez-Rivas told police the girl suffered the bruises when she hit her with a belt several days earlier.
FOX 5 DC reported that Hernandez-Rivas is currently charged with first-degree child abuse and first-degree assault. Police are waiting on a ruling by the medical examiner on the child’s official cause of death before determining if she will also face more serious charges.
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