A Texas man has been arrested after he allegedly choked his 3-month-old son while arguing with the child’s mother over “stupid things.”
The Brownsville Police Department announced that Diego Alfredo Longoria has been charged with one count of injury to a child, assault by strangulation and making a terroristic threat.
The incident took place at a residence in north Brownsville on Thursday, March 12. Law enforcement initially responded to the home after they received a report about a domestic dispute, according to a criminal complaint obtained by Valley Central.
A woman identified as the baby’s grandmother allegedly told dispatchers that the defendant was hurting his child.
The child’s grandmother called 911 a second time when police were already on their way, saying that the baby had a large bruise on his face. The grandmother added that Longoria, 23, was trying to leave the residence.
There were three adults at the scene, and they were all separated from one another when the officers arrived, according to the charging document.
Longoria told responding officers he and the child’s mother had been arguing over “stupid things” at the time of the incident. However, the grandmother repeated her claim that Longoria had been hurting the child. She also told police that he allegedly has a history of verbal altercations.
The grandmother explained that her daughter opened the door for her when she got home and handed her the baby. The daughter then asked her to take the child to the car, per the complaint.
Longoria allegedly followed the child’s grandmother and mother to the car and he demanded that they return the child to him. The grandmother told police that she refused to do so because she believed it was “not safe for the baby to go with him.” Longoria then allegedly started banging on the car windows.
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Meanwhile, the baby’s mother told officers that the “stupid” argument between the pair began when she was feeding the child. She said that Longoria told her he was going to “intentionally scare him” and she told him not to do that.
Longoria allegedly ignored her request by grabbing the boy and “thrust[ing] him up and down in the air in an aggressive manner,” which ultimately caused the boy to cry.
The baby’s mother told Longoria to stop, which made him upset. Longoria then walked outside with the baby in his arms, and she followed him to try to retrieve the child. She told cops that Longoria allegedly pushed her and told her to get back repeatedly. However, she refused to step back, and he threatened to kill her.
“In fear of his words, [the baby’s mother] went back inside and could still hear the baby crying,” the complaint stated.
The baby’s crying sounds later turned into gasping sounds, so the mother ran back outside and found Longoria using his right hand to “choke the baby,” per the charging document.
The mother said she tried to stop Longoria from hurting the child, and he pushed her off and she fell. Longoria allegedly threatened to kill both the child and mother if she did not go back inside the house.
The baby’s mother then called her own mother to tell her what happened.
Police said that Longoria later came back inside the house with the boy, placed him on the bed and started beating the baby’s mother. While speaking to authorities, the woman said she lost count of how many times he hit her.
At one point during the fight, the mother picked her child up from the bed and Longoria choked her for roughly 10 seconds. The grandmother then arrived at the home and called 911.
Longoria is currently being held at Brownsville city jail. It is not currently clear if he has entered a plea or retained legal representation.
The Cameron County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to Us Weekly’s request for comment.
The child is currently recuperating at the Driscoll Hospital in Corpus Christi after he suffered a fracture to his right collarbone.
