Jessica Briones: Texas Mom Allegedly Didn’t Call 911 As Daughter Was Dying Because She Was ‘Low On Minutes’

A Texas woman walked with her severely-injured daughter to a police station rather than call 911 because she was “low on minutes” on her cell phone, the Daily Mail is reporting.

Police say that on September 5, Jessica Briones, 34, showed up at a San Antonio police station carrying a bruised and bleeding 5-year-old girl. The young girl, later identified as Briones’ daughter, Olivia, was unresponsive, and had injuries on her arms, face, and head.

Briones allegedly told authorities that the girl “falls often” at home, according to WFSB, and that she’d “hit her head” on the floor on September 1, days earlier. What’s more, Briones allegedly claimed that she had “accidentally” slammed Olivia’s arm in a door.

When asked why she didn’t take the girl to a hospital right away, Briones allegedly told police that she couldn’t find her cell phone and was “low on minutes.”

Olivia was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she died the following day.

Medical examiners determined that Olivia had multiple injuries, including eight scars on her scalp; a black eye; a swollen nose; a deflated lung; a swollen wrist; a fractured vertebrae, a large abrasion on the back of her head; and a bruised ankle. The tissue in her upper lip was detached from her gums. Both of the child’s arms were also swollen.

Authorities believe that Briones caused her daughter’s injuries, and she was taken to jail and charged with intentional injury to a child, which carries a maximum possible sentence of up to 99 years in prison. What’s more, Briones could be facing additional or upgraded criminal charges, pending the results of Olivia’s autopsy.

She is currently being held on $25,000 bail.

According to cell phone provider Pure Talk USA, the cell phone system in the U.S. is designed to make emergency services accessible to as many users as possible, regardless of the carrier they’re using or if they have a carrier at all.

Specifically, any cell phone carrier must transmit your 911 call to a 911 center, whether you are using that carrier or not. In other words, that means that you can make a 911 call regardless of how many “minutes” you have available on your plan, or even if your plan has been cancelled or you have no plan at all.

[Featured Image by Bexar County Sheriffs Office]