LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) A Lawrence officer says a 7-year-old girl found bound at a Walmart told him she was hitting her siblings and asked to be tied up.
Officer James Miller testified Friday about his conversation with the girl during a preliminary hearing for the girl’s parents, Adolfo and Deborah Gomez. The suburban Chicago couple was arrested in June after the 7-year-old and her bound 5-year-old brother were found outside the family’s vehicle. Three older children weren’t restrained.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports that another officer, Charles Stewart, testified that the 5-year-old said Adolfo Gomez told the boy not to take off his bindings.
Police say the father either recited religious sayings or prayed when he was asked to exit the vehicle. Ultimately, police used a stun gun to subdue him.