Texas Man Dumps 4-Year-Old Son on Highway — Docs Remove 500 Cactus Spines
- Posted on June 29, 2011 at 10:49pm by
Tiffany Gabbay
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SWEETWATER, Texas (AP) — A father abandoned his 4-year-old son along a West Texas highway, and the injured boy spent several
hours alone in the dark before a passing motorist picked him up, police said.
Carlos Rico, 22, stopped his car along a cactus-lined stretch of Interstate 20 near Sweetwater at about 3 a.m. Tuesday and “threw the boy out of the car like a bag of garbage,” Sweetwater police Chief Jim Kelley told the Abilene Reporter-News on Tuesday.
The boy was picked up about three hours later by the local high school basketball coach and taken to a hospital, where doctors
removed at least 500 cactus spines from the child’s body, Kelley said. The boy was in the state’s custody on Wednesday.
“I’ve seen a lot of bad things. This is absolutely a first. I’ve never seen a 4-year-old angel left on the side of the road for dead. He’s such a sweet little boy,” he said.
Rico was driving from Lubbock to Saginaw when he abandoned his son, and he was taken into custody Tuesday by police in the Fort Worth suburb, Saginaw police spokesman Damon Ing told The Associated Press on Wednesday. Rico’s cousin called police when Rico showed up to see him without his son, and investigators determined that Rico was the father of the boy found near Sweetwater, he said.
Rico told Saginaw investigators that God told him to choke the boy and expel him from the car, Kelley said. There was bruising on the boy’s throat, he said.
Ing said Rico had been charged with child endangerment and did not have a lawyer representing him. His bond was set at $50,000.
Al Hunt, the motorist who found the boy, said he initially thought he was looking at a guardrail post until it moved.
“It took me seconds to realize, ‘it’s a little kid there,’” the 54-year-old coach said.
He said he pulled over and, not seeing a vehicle the child might have been in, ran across the road and scooped the boy into his arms. He said the boy’s lips were cracked as if he were dehydrated, and that the only response the boy gave to his questions was when he held up four fingers when Hunt asked his age.
“He didn’t say a word to me. He didn’t say a word to anybody. He never said a word,” Hunt said.
Kelley said Rico would be brought to Sweetwater, about 225 miles west of Dallas, where he could face additional charges, including attempted murder or attempted capital murder, which could apply because the boy is younger than 6, he said.
The boy’s stepmother in Lubbock came to Sweetwater to be with him. The whereabouts of the boy’s biological mother were not immediately known, and it was unclear if she is involved in his life.
Marleigh Meisner, a spokeswoman for Child Protective Services, told The Associated Press that there is no history of abuse involving the boy’s family. She said a custody hearing is set for July 7.
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Comments (110)
hogtrashhd
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 1:29amhate to say it, but I‘ve been to Texas and I’ve known people from Texas.. and it’s a bit frightening… I think it’s the water or refried beans.. I‘m not sure but it seems they’re not wrapped too tight.. and a loooooooot of serial killers are from there and still are there.. spooky stuff goes on down there..
Report Post »rojotx
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 2:00amAre you kidding me, where are you from? Mars! geez Bad peeps come from everywhere. Yes that is Texas in my name!!!!!!! You musta been in the pen to Talk like that! Maybe you ought to be more tolerant of you betters!
Report Post »Lets see, we have the best jobs rating in the country, we are one of the free-est,#14, and you say that. So sad for you, jealous.
This guy is not a “Texan” that would be claimed and you I would bunch in with him!
TxGold
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 7:43amThat‘s the most inane post I’ve seen. Seriously? You don’t know jack about Texas or Texans. You just run your mouth.
Report Post »jado1981
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 10:15amHogtrash, you are an idiot. Next time you have a thought, just let it go.
Report Post »jkendal
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 1:45pmhogtrashhd – that‘s okay we’re better off down here without the likes of you anyway…..
Report Post »adouglass1
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 3:18pmThats idiotic Ive been to Texas it is a great place. I live currently in Nevada which is weird but still better than some places. I was born in New York then moved to California when I was 13. I must say that California has changed rapidly in the last 8 years or so that I have been in Nevada. Also for you to say that just general blanket statement is just idiotic, creeps and weirdos, pervets, killers, ganstas/thugs, degenerates are unfortunately everywhere. Right now they are starting to come out during the day and be seen in the light. I say if I did not have so much invested here in NV I would wnat to move to Texas I have investigated it and it seems to still be a normal and decent place that I would not minds raising my kids in.
Report Post »Bluebonnet
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 7:47pm@HOGTRASH, you got an ugly mouth on ya, but that’s how I know your not from Texas. I regret I was only able to live in Texas for 3 years, but I intend to go back ASAP. My coffee mug says:
Report Post »“If you lead a good life, Say your prayers & go to church, When you die you will go to TEXAS.” I hope so when I’m still living, cause I love the state, I love the people and I love the history of Texas.
conservativewoman
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 1:26amI agree that we will see more of this in these hard times, and I believe that the spiritual war that is always going on in this world has greatly intensified. The most vulnerable will be under the greatest attack.
Report Post »What are the chances that a good soul would come along at the right time, and be able to spot a small child by the side of the road in the dark? Divine intervention? God bless the Coach for being there!
Cold War Vet
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 1:25amThis is clearly the result of liberal progressive culture. They loathe family values, fight against freedom, prosperity, the constitution and Christianity, hate Jews, disrupt, riot, lie cheat and steal to prove their wrongful, evil points, and in general, hate America.
Yet they adore Hamas terrorists, fake Hamas-backed “freedom flotillas”, absolutely love Sharia Law and Jihad, and they practically worship mass murderers like Lenin, Stalin, and Chairman Mao, and promote programs that have kept American minorities stuck in poverty and “victimhood” since the 1960s while making an illicit profit on it. They organize violent demonstrations with union thugs that actually show up at someone’s home and terrorize them.
And then they call us racists, hatemongers, violent, etc. Liberal progressives are the of the Earth. Hands down. All you have to do is open your eyes and LOOK. The truth, which has no agenda (Hat tip to Glenn!) is the only path to saving America from the certain destruction at the hands the idiots who attempt to utilize the rainbow, unicorn, glitter, nanny state crowd.
Report Post »ChangeAll
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 12:59amOnly an extremely psychologically-disturbed or extremely evil person could do this! I feel confident that many will step forward to take this adorable child, but this will never be erased from his memory.
Report Post »ChangeAll
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 12:52amWhat a precious child…I would love to take him! Only a very psychologically disturbed..or truly Evil,person could do this.
Report Post »neverending
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 12:49amAdults can fend for themselves but what is happening to our precious children, who are totally helpless, is so outrageous it is beyond belief. I would love to have the opportunity to take care of bastards like him – oh well there is ONE that will take care of him oneday!
Report Post »ZaphodsPlanet
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 12:49amThat’s no way to treat your anchor baby.
Report Post »rojotx
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 1:51amthat is original! I like it!!
Report Post »TXWildfire
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 8:55amBBAHAHAHHA! Good stuff. Made me cry a little bit.
Report Post »KENTUCKYREDBONE
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 12:34amThe trash who did this to the child oughtta be hanged!
Report Post »angelcat
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 12:24amSadly. we do worse to babies before they are born and it is sanctioned by our government and worshipped as a woman’s right to control her body. This boy didn’t deserved to be treated like this and neither do those babies.
Report Post »Lost Shaker Assault
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 12:41am@ Angelcat: you are so right. Abortion advocates call it “Choice”.The sad thing is: they miss the fact that a real choice is to not have risky unprotected sex outside of a healthy and loving relationship where the object is to create a human life.
Report Post »UlyssesP
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 12:17am“The whereabouts of the boy’s biological mother were not immediately known”
Report Post »She’s in the local motel on her back with legs spread, beer in one hand cigarette in the other and some tex mex blaring on the radio as the next john strips down….
One Man Progressive Wrecking Crew
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 12:08amPeople will call me racist but I don’t care, the truth hurts and as soon as I saw the little banner interrupt my reading of the last story ( I hate that right bottom corner slider thing, the new york times has it too, it’s freaking annoying) and when I read the blurb I said in my head “this has to be a Latino or black guy”…..Enough said. I was right. :(
Me and my buddies play that game all the time with emails and bet, we really do it’s become so easy to pick the right ones just from the links. I get em right every time. :( It’s a sad commentary on those groups but totally predictable.
Report Post »adouglass1
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 3:04pmI wont call you a racist just dumb!! I guess you think that Whites/Asians etc etc never do no wrong nor any harm? I can point out many cases confirmed of sick people that are White. Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy and so on and so forth, more recently Casey Anthony etc etc. That was just the dumbest blanket sterotype filled nonsense bs I have ever heard of. It has nothing to do with race but class and evilness it has everything to to do with stupidity and selfishness that does not see color.
Report Post »The Bagginator
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:44pmHow can anyone treat such a sweet and innocent looking boy this way.
Its enough to make a grown man cry … and it has.
Poor little tyke.
Report Post »misteryuck
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:37pmSpeaking as a father of a four year old boy…. This is inexcusable. He should get the maximum penalty the law can give him. I don’t know what else to say.
Report Post »RN MOM
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:35pmBig thanks to the gym coach who found this little boy. The others posters pretty much summed up what I think of the “dad”.
Report Post »Jenny Lind
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 12:20pmYou are right, not enough praise for the wonderfull man who found this little one, and took him to get help. God bless him.
Report Post »abbygirl1994
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:30pmWe are going to see alot more of this.. you watch its gonna get ugly.. God help us and help the victims from such evil.
Report Post »SlimnRanger
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 7:51amYes Abby you are correct,but we are in the end times so nothing surprises me anymore,I pray for this 4 year old precious boy,i can never understand how anyone can harm a child but when satan enters a person and takes control things like this happen,Come quickly Lord Jesus
Report Post »flattop
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:29pmWow. Such a beautiful kid. So heart breaking.
Report Post »KickinBack
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:28pmJust another sad, broken family.
Report Post »lijjo
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 1:21amI am praying for this boy…for his healing physically, mentally and spiritually.
How was this poor child treated before his father did this to him? This poor baby has only been in the world for 4 years and it probably has been 4 years of pain and fear.
Blessed Mother, who is the heavenly spiritual mother for all, please find a loving home for this boy, so that he will come to know you Son’s healing, safety, love and joy. Amen
Report Post »duckman1911
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:28pmA short drop with a sudden stop for dear ol’ dad. People like this guy just strenthen my view that we should go back to public hangings.
Report Post »Ron_WA
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:23pmsomeone needs to apply cacti to this guys nether regions then drop him off naked far out in the desert (& that’s just for starters)
Report Post »NeoKong
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:22pmI’m sure no drugs were involved and Rico was gainfully employed.
Report Post »One Man Progressive Wrecking Crew
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 12:11amOh and I‘m sure he’s a legal citizen too (yea sure).. if he is his parents aren‘t because he’d be more civilized if THEY were Americans. That simple.
Report Post »Barb1954
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:19pmOH MY GOD! What a PRECIOUS CHILD! What the HELL is wrong with people today???? I pray that the boy is RESCUED from what is obviously one MESSED family! Please keep us informed on this child and where he ends up. He will be in our prayers!
Report Post »vennoye
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:18pmWonder what his god’s name is?? Sure not the same as mine!! Am very glad the little boy is O.K.!
Report Post »Old Truckers
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:23pmHis god is Satan
Report Post »Old Truckers
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:33pmMr. Carlos Rico – YOU are from YOUR father the Devil, and YOU wish to do the desires of YOUR father. That one was a manslayer when he began, and he did not stand fast in the truth, because truth is not in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks according to his own disposition, because he is a liar and the father of [the lie]. – John 8:44
Report Post »masterplan
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 3:30amIf what you are hearing is to do something good, then it is from God.
Report Post »If what you hear is to do evil, then it is the devil.
Easy to understand.
Bearfoot
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 10:50amOld Truckers,
Report Post »In John 8:44, Jesus was speaking to the Jews of his time, and of their resistance to the truths he was speaking. So in the verse, the capitalized “YOUR” indicates a plural number of persons (Jews as a nation) that opposed Jesus’ words to them.
Your directing John 8:44 to a specific person is not the proper use of that scripture, although I do understand your message.
ErinLindsey
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:18pmTexas has the death penalty, right?
Report Post »nomercy63
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:50pmYes we have the death penalty, but the victims usually die of old age before they are put to death.
Report Post »bertr
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:56pmyah, this guys is almost certiantly toast, of all the places to do something this messed up, texas. he’s incredible stupid on top of it
Report Post »texasken
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 11:48amGood Lord, nomercy63, you’re not only stupid, you’re wrong. Texas puts more people to death in a year than every other state combined. The average time to execution from conviction is less than 12 years.
That said, this idiot won’t get the death penalty. That’s for actual murder, not attempted murder, and we don’t even know if he will be charged with attempted murder. No, this guy will have many, many years as a prison bitch to consider what he did.
Report Post »cookcountypatriot
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:16pmthey ought to beat that pos father with a cactus ..rotten pos
Report Post »Robert-CA
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 4:19amHis bond was set at $50,000.
Report Post »Really that’s all ???????????
What kind of a Judge is that ?
TulsaYeeHaw
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 7:48amThere are guidelines for bail outside the control of the judge.
Report Post »KenInIL
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 9:17pmIf the story is really true: take his son away, castrate hjm and let him be on his way! No need for an expensive jail sentence. People who hurt their own children should be “fixed” so they can’t enjoy making them!!
Report Post »nomercy63
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:14pmYes Glenn, Your going to love Texas !!! We have some terrific trailer park trash down here!!!
Report Post »cripplecreek
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:21pmTrue but you know how to “correct ” them when they get out of line.
Report Post »obama-mecca-me-sick
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:23pmPoor little guy. I wonder if the father is here legally and how much taxpayer money we give him for unemployment and welfare? Seriously, someone should find out.
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:24pm.
Report Post »I keep trying to tell ya’ll this place is not that great. If this guy has never thrown a child from a car before, he’ll get 90 days and some probation…..
silentwatcher
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:27pmYup,,,and your new ‘housemates’ will definately show you what they thing of someone who commits crimes against children. Buckly up, boy, you’re about to get your pucker stretched.
Report Post »vennoye
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:28pmYes we do, but they are not the majority!
Report Post »hersey10
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:39pmIf this maggot hasn‘t gotten it yet he’s going to get the a*s beating of his life when he least expects it in prison .
Report Post »Therightsofbilly
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 12:03am@ZOMBIE
You been doin some research?
Report Post »banjarmon
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 12:07amDrag the dad through the cactus patch four or five times and throw a couple of porcupines in there for good measure!
Report Post »Czar Casm
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 12:35amYeah Zombie, there’s some @-holes down here. They’re called democrats. Like this guy.
Report Post »lijjo
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 1:12amDo you have to call people who live in trailer parks all trash?
This guy is a delusional psychopath, who would try to kill his own son! He has nothing to do with people who cannot afford the full price of a house.
Report Post »fastfacts
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 1:36amLOCK HIM AWAY AND LET PRISON JUSTICE TAKE CARE OF HIM
If you hurt a child and the guys in prison find out, especially if you are a child molester, you may end up dead or brutally beaten. This type of thing should be unheard of.
It’s just like how people can be misguided by Planned Parenthood in order to get them to get an abortion. Here is a petition to help keep the law banning funding for abortion: http://tiny.cc/g72kt
Report Post »chalkdust
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 2:12amSometimes I just don’t want to see this kind of news. How can this happen?
Report Post »Then i realize I am focusing on the wrong part of the story. The kid is alive and this could have been a very different story. The negative of the fathers in-human act is out-weighed by the positive of the kid getting a second chance at life. This pseudo father doesn’t deserve any further thought!
nzkiwi
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 3:49amWhy is veybody piling on Texas? Every state (and nation or that matter) has its share of low-life morons.
I have lived and worked in Texas and it’s a great place and I met some lovely people there.
Report Post »billtgh
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 3:57am@Therightsofbilly
Awesome! Haha
Report Post »PATTY HENRY
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 4:31amGET A BIG TRUCK. PUT THE FATHER in the Shot gun seat. DRIVE VERY FAST. OPEN his door and shove him out. Make sure you’re near a lot of cacti.
NEVER give this child back to this horribly sick, deranged man. GOD forgive us all. We are so unworthy of the life/the freedom/the gifts you’ve given us. WE have to get this country back on track. The libs and Commies have just about demoralized us to the limit. I’m sick of kids forming
Report Post »mobs and robbing places, breaking people’s legs, acting like roaming animals; I’m sick of people not valuing life, microwaving babies, throwing 4 year olds out on deserted highways, shooting Congresswomen in the head, shooting our soldiers in their bases; I’m sick of Congressmen sending photos of their private to strangers and lying about it; I‘m sick of people who’ve sold their souls for money; I’m sick of people who have the audacity to refuse the words GOD and/or JESUS to be spoken in PUBLIC…you dopes…YOU will face them one of these days…then what??? I’m sick of a president that stands in front of a teleprompter and lies his ….off ….trying to claim job creation that never happen…taking our Strategic OIL reserve barrels and giving them to the WORLD…not for us..but to the world..OUR OIL…. this guy is the definition of a TRAITOR. I’m sick of Talking Heads not being any better than tabloid trash; I‘m sick of Classless Hollywood Brats making comments about people they don’t know on subjects they can’t
Professional Infidel
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 5:28amThis was after he ws ass-f–cked
Report Post »Dustyluv
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 7:01amThis happened less than 2 hours from my home. This sick jackwagon will get a taste of Texas justice. I promise you he wont like it…Come to Texas, but behave yourself.
Report Post »grandmaof5
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 7:07amUnfortunately there is that segment of society everywhere. Some people just need to be sterilized at birth and he is one of them, he isn’t fit to take care of a pet rock – and then blames it on God. God didn’t let him kill the child and leave him on the side of the road, and for that I’m grateful. Hopefully he will find loving parents and grow up to do great things.
Report Post »TxGold
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 7:37amWhich one do you live in?
Report Post »Jenny Lind
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 9:23amThere is trailer trash everywhere. There are also decent people who live in trailers. What a great way to start my day. Just once I would like to hear some sympathy for a kid, and some sorrow for an abviously sick father, and a horrible situation. Just once I would like to start with some compassionate conservatives. I almost had it with the lightening story. Guys, why do we have to get as ugly as the people who come to this website to cause trouble? I am so in the mood to have peace and rational discussion. Anyone else feel that way? God loves us, His children, let’s have a good day.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 9:53amThis just in…
Texas court drops man by the road into bed of cactus needles.
Doctors only report finding 1,100 needles thus far.
Court set to drop him in again until a minimum of 8,000 needles are observed, prior to beginning his 40-yr prison sentence.
It IS Texas, after all. Bwahahaha
Report Post »Git ‘im, Texas!
texasken
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 11:41amFirst of all, nomercy63, learn the difference between “your” and “you’re”.
Second, what kind of moron ascribes the values of one insane man to those of the other 25 million people who live in Texas? Oh, wait… YOU do
To me, the character of Texans is more clearly revealed by the actions of Al Hunt and Jim Kelley, and even of Rico’s cousin in Saginaw, than by that fool’s actions.
If you live in Texas, and don’t like it here, you’re more than welcome to move away. Go try to find work in California, New York, Michigan, or Pennsylvania, where the people more closely align with your worldview.
Report Post »chazman
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 1:27pmThis is one of the saddest stories I’ve ever read about. There are people that have no right having children, and this little guy’s father is one of them. God, let justice be swift and severe!
Report Post »Bluebonnet
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 2:06pm@ZOMBIE…………..Everywhere you go there are some AzzWholes, but I think what‘s happened to Texas was the dam Yankies came to Texas and wouldn’t go home. Spent 3 years there and loved it, but I noticed most people I met were from other states. Hmmmm! Guess they didn’t want to go home it was so nice in the Lone Star State. Someday, I will return………when I can. I Love Texans.
Report Post »God Bless America & Israel.
Bluebonnet
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 7:39pmJust hope someone who deserves this child gets him. What a horrible thing to do to a young child. Hope this father pays his dues. Poor baby, God will give you a better home.
Report Post »