Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised
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BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN: A disturbing police body cam footage captured a shocking moment when officers stormed inside a house and rescued a 2-year-old girl who was nearly drowned by her mother. Jessica Deirdre Edward-Ricks, 35, was arrested on Saturday, June 24 after officers found two unconscious children, under the age of five, with stab wounds in their Michigan house.
Police noted in a statement that they rushed to the residence after receiving a 911 call from a 15-year-old girl. Officers heard a ruckus of blood-curdling screams in the background of the call. As they drove to the home, police dispatch can be heard saying, "We have a female on the line, she's advising her mother has just killed her sister. She's advising there is a knife involved, we're trying to get further ... the mother has stabbed her sister." Further in the video, the officers can be seen approaching a residence where the door was left ajar.
‘She's been stabbed in the throat’
As officers approach the crime scene, they pull out their guns while establishing their presence and walking through the house. All the room doors appeared to be open except the bathroom which was locked shut. A responding officer kicked in the door and found a woman sitting in the bath with the child. "No, what's going on?" the officer screamed as the woman moved to the back side of the tub. They immediately started performing CPR on the toddler, who appeared lifeless. "She's been stabbed in the throat," he can be heard saying as he walks to another room.
"We got a child with a stab wound in the chest we need medical priority one," the officer is heard saying to dispatch before attempting to rescue the baby. The footage goes dark as they explain that "the mother was drowning it in the bathtub when we found it." While giving CPR, the officer can be heard counting to ten and pleading with the infant to breathe. After a little while, the little girl can be heard starting to cry again and spitting up water as the officials turned her on her side. The footage then shows rescuers patting her back as she lays on her side in a cloth diaper.
Mother faces six felony charges
The officers then examined other rooms where they found a 4-year-old boy with horrific stab wounds. Authorities believe that the two children had ingested cleaning fluid. The children were taken to a hospital in Jackson before being airlifted to Ann Arbor. As per reports, the two children were discharged from hospital on Monday. Apart from the duo, two uninjured girls, aged 8 and 15, were also found in the house. Jessica, who pleads not guilty to the crime, is facing six felony charges, including two of assault with intent to commit murder, two of first-degree child abuse, and two of second-degree child abuse. Her bond was set at $500,000.