Mom chokes 6-year-old daughter over crying, promises 'squishy' toy to keep secret from dad with shared custody: Cops

A New Mexico mother allegedly choked her daughter, then promised her a “squishy” toy if she did not tell anyone about the incident.

Angela Gomez Luera, 26, was released on her own recognizance after being charged with child abuse on Tuesday. According to a criminal complaint obtained by El Paso, Texas-based NBC affiliate KTSM, a deputy from the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call from a hospital on Oct. 11 about a 6-year-old girl who was brought there by her father. Police said the father told them his daughter had been put in a chokehold by her mother, Gomez Luera.

According to the complaint, the girl had redness around her neck and bruising around her eyes.

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Police said the girl’s father explained that he and Gomez Luera shared custody of the 6-year-old girl. Police said they learned that while the girl was in her mother’s care, she went to the school nurse and “requested an ice pack” because she was “hurting.”

According to the complaint, a “safehouse interview” was conducted with the girl while she was at her school. During that conversation, the girl said she was crying before her mother allegedly placed her in a chokehold until “she could not breathe.” The girl said her mother released her after she screamed.

In the complaint, police wrote that the girl said during the interview her mother “thought she had died.” The girl reportedly said “her mother ‘made her die’ while choking her.” Police wrote that, based on the girl’s statements, she was choked for several seconds.

Police said Gomez Luera allegedly told the girl she would buy her a “squishy” toy in exchange for her silence.

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The father told police that when he picked his daughter up on Oct. 11, she told him about the chokehold and he brought her to the hospital to be examined. He took her back two days later for a follow-up exam.

Gomez Luera was booked into the Doña Ana County Detention Center on Tuesday and released the same day. Her next court appearance is scheduled for Dec. 2.

The post Mom chokes 6-year-old daughter over crying, promises ‘squishy’ toy to keep secret from dad with shared custody: Cops first appeared on Law & Crime.