BCSO said the child told deputies that her mother, Lucia Cruz and her boyfriend, had argued the night before and Cruz had allegedly been drinking and passed out.
SAN ANTONIO — A Bexar County mother is facing a felony charge after deputies say she told her young child to walk a long distance to school, raising serious safety concerns, according to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators said a witness intervened after spotting the child near traffic. Deputies said the child, younger than 12-years-old, had been told to walk to a school about 19 miles away and did not have a cell phone or any other means of communication.
The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said deputies responded to a home on the far west side, outside Loop 1604 on Orpheus Way, for a welfare check. The child told deputies that her mother, 35-year-old Lucia Cruz, and her boyfriend had argued the night before and Cruz had allegedly been drinking and passed out.
When the child woke Cruz up, deputies said Cruz asked the child to walk to school.
According to investigators, the child had already walked about a mile before being found by a witness. The witness told deputies the child was trying to stay off the roadway but was forced closer to traffic because of cacti and brush along the road.
Deputies said when they spoke with Cruz, she was aware her child had walked to school. The child’s father told investigators he has custody of the child, but the child was under the mother’s care at the time, according to BCSO.
Cruz was charged with felony abandonment/endangerment of a child and has since made bond, according to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office.