The father of a little boy who died of a traumatic brain injury frantically knocked on his neighbors door with the toddler slumped in his arms.
Gael Herrera Medina died on May 12, 2021, at just 15 months old after being found unresponsive at his home in Los Angeles with signs of strangulation.
His mother Noemi Medina is serving four years in jail for felony child abuse and a judge is deciding if his father Jose Juan Herrera will stand trial for murder.
Door camera footage showed Herrera, 35, holding his unconscious child in his arms outside his home, and knocking on the neighbor’s door.
Gael Herrera Medina died on May 12, 2021, at just 15 months old after being found unresponsive at his home in Los Angeles with signs of strangulation
Door camera footage showed Herrera, 35, holding his unconscious child in his arms outside his home
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Jasmine Aguirre told the court on Monday that she heard loud noises coming from next door, before Herrera appear at her door.
‘The guy comes right behind me with the baby. And the baby wasn’t breathing,’ she told the court through tears, ABC7 reported.
‘I think he was trying to tell me that look, look, look, he was trying to tell me something’s wrong with the baby so I called 911.’
The footage showed Herrera with Medina holding Gael and bolting towards an ambulance when it arrived.
Melissa Valenzuela, a nurse, explained to the court how she was concerned about Gael’s injuries at a doctor’s visit not long before his death.
‘That visit was very, it bothered me a lot. The mother seemed very, not emotionally attached to the child. It really struck me as different,’ she said.
A judge is deciding if Gael’s father Jose Juan Herrera will stand trial for murder
Gael’s mother Noemi Medina is serving four years’ jail for felony child abuse
Gael’s extended family also became worried after Medina regained custody from her brother and parents, who got him and his two older brothers out of foster care.
‘When she would bring him around we would see bruises on him,’ Gael’s uncle Gustavo Medina said.
Just a month after Medina regained custody, Gael was dead.
He was rushed to USC Medical Center where he was examined by doctors and pronounced dead the next day.
Dr Maria Lopez-Patel testified on Monday that Gael had bruising on his cheek and a hematoma on his brain from a traumatic brain injury, and signs of strangulation.
A judge will determine from the hearing whether Herrera will face trial for murder.