Laredo Toddler Wanders Into Traffic After Daycare Door Fails, Worker Arrested

A 2-year-old wandered out of a Laredo daycare and into the roadway Tuesday, narrowly avoiding being struck by an 18-wheeler before police tracked down the child and arrested the caregiver responsible for watching them. The child had walked away from the facility at 2111 Chihuahua Street, and witnesses reported the toddler was nearly hit by the truck as it passed through the area.

Laredo Police Department officers responded to the area of Chihuahua Street and Malinche Avenue on Tuesday after receiving a report of a small child walking in the roadway, according to a police report cited by the Beaumont Enterprise. Investigators determined the child had walked out of the daycare, later identified as Victory Land Daycare, a state-licensed center at that address holding a Texas permit issued in September 2021 with a capacity of 32 children, according to TrustedCare. The center is also designated a Texas Rising Star 2-Star provider by Workforce Solutions for South Texas, a voluntary quality rating that goes beyond baseline state licensing requirements.

Police found that the daycare's main entrance door was not properly secured, allowing the toddler to exit unsupervised. Officers established probable cause to arrest 41-year-old Norma Angelica Martinez-Medrano following the investigation and consultation with the district attorney's office, per the same report. She was booked into Webb County Jail and charged with abandoning or endangering a child with intent to return, a state jail felony under Texas law.

What the Charge Carries

Under Section 22.041 of the Texas Penal Code, abandoning or endangering a child younger than 15 with intent to return becomes a state jail felony when a caregiver intentionally leaves a child without necessary care in circumstances that expose them to unreasonable risk of harm, according to FindLaw. The statute applies not just to parents and guardians but to professional child care providers as well. A conviction under Section 12.35 of the Texas Penal Code carries a punishment range of 180 days to two years in a state jail facility along with a fine of up to $10,000, per Justia Law.

Unlike many felony sentences, state jail felony time in Texas is generally served day-for-day, without eligibility for standard parole or good-conduct early release, according to the Cory Roth Law Office. Martinez-Medrano posted a $3,000 bond and was released the same day, Tuesday, according to the police report.

Regulators Could Open a Separate Investigation

Beyond the criminal case, Victory Land Daycare faces potential administrative scrutiny. Chapter 746 of the Texas Administrative Code requires licensed child care centers to maintain continuous visual and auditory supervision of toddlers and to keep entryways and physical plant doors properly secured against unauthorized child exits, per the Texas Health and Human Services Commission's minimum standards. Under Chapter 42 of the Texas Human Resources Code, a serious safety breach or child exit incident at a licensed center triggers an administrative investigation by HHSC's Child Care Regulation division, which oversees more than 8,000 licensed centers statewide and can issue deficiency citations, fines, or permit suspensions independently of any criminal case.

It remains unclear whether HHSC has previously cited Victory Land Daycare for safety deficiencies, whether Martinez-Medrano was the only caregiver supervising the child at the time, or what specific door or latch failure allowed the toddler to slip outside.

A Dangerous Stretch of Road

The location makes the near-miss especially alarming. Laredo is the busiest inland port of entry in the United States, handling over half of all U.S.-Mexico commercial truck freight and generating constant heavy 18-wheeler traffic along city thoroughfares, according to Novic Logistics. A toddler stepping into that traffic flow faced an immediate, life-threatening hazard from the thousands of freight trucks that move through the city daily.

This is not the first child-safety felony case Laredo police have worked on Chihuahua Street. In February, Laredo police arrested a woman on a state jail felony charge on the same street following an investigation into injury to a child, according to a Laredo Police Department statement reported on Facebook.

The Laredo case also fits a broader pattern playing out across Texas, where police and state regulators have increasingly pursued felony endangerment charges against daycare employees after supervision failures. Hoodline has previously reported on a Spring daycare case involving similar charges, along with incidents in San Antonio and Fort Worth that drew felony charges or state regulatory probes tied to toddler supervision lapses.