A 13-year-old boy in Alabama put up a fight when he beat up his drunk dad in order to stop him from strangling his mother.
The teen began to beat up his father when he allegedly saw Daniel Hernandez-Lopez choking his mother during a heated argument at their home in Foley on Tuesday, March 10, according to KOLO-TV.
After the boy confronted his father for hurting his mother outside of their home, Hernandez-Lopez reportedly lunged at the boy and tried to hit him with a bicycle.
The boy then punched his father, who was highly intoxicated, repeatedly in the face as he tried to fight him off. Police officers said that Hernandez-Lopez was left with two black eyes and a badly swollen lip, according to the outlet. Additionally, cops said that it’s possible he was knocked unconscious during the altercation.
Hernandez-Lopez was charged with domestic violence strangulation and booked into the Baldwin County jail, according to online records viewed by Us Weekly.
Police said that he may have been on narcotics at the time of the incident, while authorities also noted that he is not a United States citizen.
In his mugshot, Hernandez-Lopez had a bloodied and bruised face with two black eyes and a gash across his forehead. Additionally, his mouth was visibly swollen in the photo.
It is not currently clear if Hernandez-Lopez has entered a plea or retained legal representation following his arrest. The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to Us Weekly’s request for comment regarding the case.
Police have not shared any details regarding if there have been other domestic violence issues between Hernandez-Lopez, the boy or the boy’s mother prior to the recent arrest.
Domestic violence strangulation is considered a Class B felony in the state of Alabama. If Hernandez-Lopez is found guilty of the charge, he could be sentenced to serve between 2 to 20 years in prison as well as be ordered to pay a monetary fine of up to $30,000.
A new domestic violence law became effective in the state of Alabama in 2019, according to the website for law firm Polson & Polson, P.C. The law specifically focused on “the manner of inflicting intentional and potentially lethal or crippling injury” and seeks “to penalize those convicted under its provisions.”
When it comes to the domestic violence strangulation charge, the state of Alabama defines the charge as when a person “commits an assault with intent to cause physical harm or commits the crime of menacing pursuant to Section 13A-6-23, by strangulation or suffocation or attempted strangulation or suffocation and the victim is a current or former spouse, parent, step-parent, child, step-child, any person with whom the defendant has a child in common, a present household member, or a person who has or had a dating relationship with the defendant.”
The state defines strangulation as “intentionally causing asphyxia by closure or compression of the blood vessels or air passages of the neck as a result of external pressure on the neck.” Meanwhile, suffocation is defined as when someone intentionally causes “asphyxia by depriving a person of air or by preventing a person from breathing through the inhalation of toxic gases or by blocking or obstructing the airway of a person, by any means other than by strangulation.”
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