May 21--Prosecutors have charged a mother with stabbing her 3-year-old son during a domestic dispute with the child's father.
Michelle Betancourt, 23, faces two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, as well as a special allegation that she caused significant injury to her son, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.
Prosecutors said a dispute erupted between Betancourt and the child's father about 8 p.m. Monday at a home in Cudahy. At some point during the dispute, the toddler was stabbed.
Neighbors said they heard screams and terrifying shrieks and a woman yelling something about "a lot of blood."
Betancourt and the child's father were seen running down the driveway holding their son. The boy's face and throat were bloodied.
The father told witness Yvette Argueta that the toddler said he stabbed himself in the face.
But detectives say the evidence disproved his version of events. Betancourt was arrested soon after the stabbing, and the boy remained hospitalized in critical condition.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies have responded to domestic violence calls from the boy's mother and father in the past, detectives said.
If Betancourt is convicted, she faces up to 11 years in prison.
