Police Say Children Helped Save Mom After Witnessing Abuse by Giving Note to School Bus Driver

By Amanda Thomason April 28, 2021 at 4:29pm

Editor’s Note: Our readers responded strongly to this story when it originally ran; we’re reposting it here in case you missed it.

On April 22, 2021, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, 40-year-old Erik Alvarado allegedly threatened to kill his girlfriend.

The girlfriend later said he also abused her by beating, strangling and suffocating her. And he appears to have done so in the presence of their three young children.

The woman said she was deprived of her phone and the means to seek help, as Alvarado made her stay near him at all times.

According to a Facebook post from the Las Cruces Police Department, the abuse went well into the night.

In the morning, Alvarado allowed his girlfriend to get their kids to the bus stop, and that’s when she made her desperate bid for help.

She wrote a note, handed it to the kids and instructed them to give it to the school bus driver.

They did. The bus driver read it and called 911.

“Las Cruces police were notified of the incident about 8 a.m. Friday, April 23,” the post by the police department reads. “Police found the woman with multiple cuts, bruises and abrasions consistent with her claims of physical abuse.”

“Alvarado is accused of battering the woman, strangling her, and twice suffocating her with a pillow and a shirt.”

Later on Friday, Alvarado was located and detained for questioning.

He was “charged with three third-degree felony counts of aggravated battery against a household member” as well as “misdemeanor counts of battery against a household member and deprivation of property.”

Alvarado was held without bond.

Thanks to the mother’s quick thinking and her children’s brave actions, she is alive. Hopefully, none of them will have to suffer such abuse again.

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