HOUSTON — The Houston Police Department said it's looking into the actions of responding officers after an assault report wasn't filed when a woman said she was attacked at a Fifth Ward corner store this summer.
The victim was nearly six months pregnant with what would have been her fourth child at the time of the incident. She asked for her identity to be concealed since the woman who assaulted her hadn't been caught.
It happened on July 29 at a corner store off Lockwood when the victim said her flip-flop got stuck in between the gas and brake pedals. She said she hit a parking pole and then hit the gas to get over a curb. That's when she side-swiped the store owner's car.
When her vehicle came to rest, she got out to survey the damage. That's when she was approached by the suspect, who snatched her purse out of her car.
In surveillance video, the victim can be seen following the suspect demanding to get her purse back.
The victim said when she asked for her purse back, the suspect kicked her in the stomach. She said she told the woman that she was pregnant, but she kicked her again, this time harder. On the second kick, the victim said she felt pain.
She said that when officers arrived, they didn't believe her. She convinced them to watch the surveillance video, which showed her being kicked. That's when she said they called for an ambulance and she was taken to an area hospital.
After a few ultrasounds, doctors told her the baby didn't have a heartbeat and they induced her.
Doctors weren't able to say if the baby died as a result of the kicks but the victim said she hopes to have an autopsy done soon to see if they can determine a cause of death. She's trying to come up with a way to pay for the autopsy out of her pocket as well as get the baby, who she named Nevaeh, cremated.
The officers who responded to the scene initially didn't file a police report against the woman accused of kicking the victim in the stomach, instead, the victim was issued two citations. She said she called the police a couple of days later and was assigned a detective to look into the case.
The victim said the surveillance might have been lost and she feels like the responding officers didn't file a report in time. She said if they would have listened to her, there might still be evidence of the attack.
Surveillance video captured the incident, but when investigators went back to get it, the footage was lost.
HPD confirmed the responding officers didn't file an assault report and also said they don't have the video of the alleged attack. In a statement, HPD said it's investigating what happened that day. They said they were also trying to find the woman accused of kicking the pregnant woman in the stomach.
The victim said her car was towed from the scene and she couldn't find where it was towed. She said it was auctioned off after 30 days.
Anyone with information about the woman in the video is asked to call the Houston Police Department or Crime Stoppers.