Lubbock Man Accused of Shoving Pacifier Down 6-Month-Old’s Throat
On Tuesday, January 18th, 2022, a Lubbock, Texas man was indicted and accused of intentionally shoving a pacifier down an infant's throat back in 2018.
KAMC News reports that in August 2018, emergency services responded to a call concerning a 6-month-old choking on a pacifier. A doctor would later tell police that he suspected foul play since the pacifier was lodged so deep in the child's throat, something he believed couldn't have happened by accident. The doctor would tell police he didn't even think that a grown man could've swallowed the entire pacifier.
A surgeon also said to police that she thought the pacifier had been lodged into the throat by force.
Twenty-year-old Rico Martinez was arrested a year later in August 2019. On top of being accused of intentionally shoving the pacifier down the infant's throat, he was also charged with sexual assault of a child. The exact details concerning that charge were not included in the 2018 police report.
As of Thursday, January 20th, Martinez remained in the Lubbock County Detention Center on bonds totaling $200,000.