OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — A metro mother has been arrested and now faces child abuse charges after several children were found living in a three-bedroom apartment with over three dozen canines.
Brianna Hale was taken into custody Thursday. Oklahoma City Police told NewsNation affiliate KFOR the arrest came after Hale’s daughter attempted to commit suicide.
“Apparently, she was upset with the conditions at her home. Her mother, she indicated, had been abusive to her to the point she wanted to take her own life,” said Gary Knight with the Oklahoma Police Department.
According to a police report, Hale’s daughter said her mom often referred to her and her two sisters as demons and robots.
The girl told authorities her mother was abusive and didn’t allow them to attend school.
A neighbor at Hale’s southwest Oklahoma City apartment complex told KFOR the girl was trying to jump from the second-floor balcony.
One neighbor told KFOR she knew something was wrong when she saw a different kid run from Hale’s apartment.
“Because I saw the little girl taking [took] off running in front of my apartment. She was hiding on the side of another apartment with scratches on her face saying her mom had just beat her,” said Sharron Carter.
The girl attempting to commit suicide told police her mom told her, “Go ahead. I wish you were dead anyway!”
The neighbor called the police and talked the girl out of it.
“You want kids to be with their mother, but if she’s psychologically not fit, they need to be with someone else,” said Carter.
Authorities told KFOR the apartment was covered in trash and animal feces.
According to the police report, more than three dozen puppies and dogs were inside the small three-bedroom apartment.
“There were several kids. Two or three kids in the home and all of them young kids,” said Knight. “These were young kids living in conditions that no one needs to be living in.”
The girl was placed in her father’s custody, and the animal welfare responded and took the dogs.
Hale has a $100,000 bond.