http://www.turnto23.com/east_county/19473681/detail.htmlBAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- "It was
pretty bizarre," said neighbor Ramon Rodriguez.Rodriguez was one of the
first to discover 34-year-old Angelo Mendoza on April 28 after police
said Mendoza bit an eyeball out of his 4-year-old son's face and ate
it."The guy was crazy. Real bug-eyed; he had to be on drugs," said
Rodriguez.
Court documents said neighbors checked on Mendoza's
son, Angelo Jr., after they noticed the father acting nervously and
fleeing from his east Bakersfield apartment in his wheelchair. Inside,
they found little Angelo naked and bleeding. Police said the boy had
numerous bites to his hands and his eyes were swollen shut. Doctors
said the boy's left eye and muscle were completely missing. His other
eye was mutilated beyond repair. The boy told them, "My daddy ate my
eyes out." Rodriguez said meanwhile Mendoza approached him at a
neighbor's vacant house down the street.
Rodriguez said the
boy's father wheeled himself into the front yard and asked Rodriguez to
play with him and a pet dog. He was wearing boxers and a sweater. When
Rodriguez refused, Mendoza got off his wheelchair and dragged himself
into a back yard, where he found an ax.
By then Mendoza had
stripped naked. He chained himself to a tree in the back yard and began
hacking at his leg with a pickax while yelling incoherently."He told me
to look into the sun and pray with him. I was kinda scared for a
minute," said Rodriguez.Then Rodriguez jumped on Mendoza and wrestled
the ax away.
"As soon as I grabbed the ax he tried to bite me, and I had to hold him down with my knee.
There
was dry blood around his mouth. I don't know if it was his own, but I'm
pretty sure it was his son's now that I hear the story," said
Rodriguez.The police report said Mendoza appeared to be under the
influence of PCP. Rodriguez said had he known about little Angelo, the
outcome would have been different."I would've just let him cut his leg
off. What happened to his son is not right. I would've left him alone,"
said Rodriguez.
Mendoza was arrested on charges of torture,
aggravated mayhem, and cruelty to a child. The toddler is now in the
custody of Child Protective Services. Mendoza is due in court May 20.
His bail is set at $1 million.
At first I giggled at the tittle but after I got kinda sick...
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