A 12-year-old Texas cheerleader is dead after her parents refused to take her to the hospital. Instead, they tried to treat "life-threatening" injuries with a combo of smoothies and vitamins.
Smoothies and vitamins are good for a lot of things, but curing injuries isn't one of them. The Atascosa County Sheriff's Office commented on the case, but there's a lot of missing details here. For one, we still don't know what was wrong with the pre-teen. What injuries did she have, and why didn't her parents want to go to the hospital?
Texas cheerleader Miranda Sipps died on Monday. Her mother called emergency services after she went into respiratory distress. Authorities ended up arresting both the cheerleader's mother, Denise Balbaneda, and stepfather, Gerald Gonzalez. They said that the couple failed to seek medical treatment in a timely manner. The cheerleader was "mentally and physically incapacitated and non-responsive" over a four day period.
According to Sheriff David Soward, the couple didn't want authorities to know about the girl's condition. Emergency responders failed to treat the cheerleader for her injuries. The sheriff's department is investigating the case. Prior to her death, the cheerleader's parents allegedly fed her smoothies and vitamins. They also tried to give her oxygen at one point.
Texas Cheerleader Dies
They attempted to nurse the girl back to health on their own without involving the authorities.
"Basically they thought they could nurse her back to health and we do not think they wanted the attention that this would draw if the little girl was injured," he said. "Which is strangely ironic, but that was their line of thinking."
However, the cheerleader was seriously injured. She could only "flutter her eyes and move her hands a little bit over a four-day period." The cop also alleged the mother left the home with her daughter to head to the hospital. She allegedly left because she didn't want authorities inside of the home.
So far, authorities didn't release any information on exactly what caused the injuries or even what they were. However, the department noted she didn't have broken bones. They charged the couple with injury to a child causing serious bodily injury by omission. It carries a first-degree felony.
