Mother Charged With Kicking, Beating 4-Year-Old Daughter

GAITHERSBURG, MD — A Gaithersburg mother is charged with beating and kicking her 4-year-old daughter and then waiting for an hour to call 911 after the girl was found face down in a bathtub. Montgomery County Police on Jan. 28 arrested and charged Iris Hernandez Rivas, 20, of the 400 block of Sunny Brook Terrace in Gaithersburg, with child abuse of the critically injured girl.

Hernandez Rivas called 911 about 12:30 p.m. on Jan. 26 to ask for medical help for her unresponsive four-year-old daughter. County police officers, officers from the Gaithersburg City Police Department, and Montgomery County Fire and Rescue personnel responded to the apartment.

Hernandez Rivas told police officers that her daughter went into the bathroom about 11:15 a.m. and started the shower. About 15 to 20 minutes later, Hernandez Rivas heard a noise from the bathroom and went to check on her child. When Hernandez Rivas entered the bathroom, she saw her daughter face down in the bathtub. Hernandez Rivas said she waited about one hour before calling 9-1-1.

Fire and Rescue personnel took the youngster to Adventist Healthcare Shady Grove Medical Center in Rockville in serious condition.

Major Crimes detectives learned from medical staff at the hospital that the girl had multiple bruises on her body and was suffering from head trauma that may have been from the result of physical abuse. The victim was flown to Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where she remains in critical condition.

When investigators spoke with Hernandez Rivas on Friday, she said that at about 10:30 a.m. the day before she had kicked the little girl in the abdomen after becoming angry that the child had not brushed her teeth. The force of the kick knocked the child backward and she struck her head on the living room wall. Hernandez Rivas told police that her daughter fell to the ground and appeared lethargic.

The daughter then went to the bathroom and turned on the shower, Hernandez Rivas said, and she later found her face down in the bat tub. Bruises on multiple areas of her daughter’s body were caused by Hernandez Rivas striking her daughter with a belt several days earlier, she told police.

Hernandez Rivas was arrested on Jan. 28 and charged with one count of first-degree child abuse and one count of first-degree assault. Hernandez Rivas is currently being held without bond.

»Photo of Iris Hernandez Rivas, courtesy of Montgomery County Police