Man claims to be father of unidentified 4-year-old girl seriously injured in car accident

Police arrest driver after 4-year-old unidentifed girl hurt in accident

HOUSTON – A man has come forward claiming to be the father of the unidentified girl who was injured in a car crash Saturday.

Child Protective Services said they are working to prove that man is in fact the 4-year-old girl’s father.

After the story was shared on social media, he called the CPS hotline from Minneapolis, officials said.

According to officials, the girl, officials are calling Briana, will be released from the hospital Tuesday night and placed into foster care, CPS representatives said.

CPS says in the next couple of weeks they will most likely go to court and a judge could order that man from Minnesota to come to Texas and provide a DNA sample or even possibly a birth certificate. That should happen sometime in the next couple weeks.

Police still do not know who the girl's mother is.

Briana was seriously hurt in a car wreck along I-10 near Columbus.

Police said 30-year-old Tidurcio Rivera was behind the wheel of a white Chevy Impala when he rear-ended the car in front of him.

They said he was in the process of smuggling Briana to Houston when the accident occurred. Police say Rivera ran away from the scene of the crash, was picked up a short time later and brought back to the crash site so police could question him.

“He stated he doesn't know who the girl is. He was paid $200 to transport her from San Antonio to Houston to a Fiesta store off (I)45 somewhere near Spring or the Aldine area,” Detective Jason Manies said.

Briana’s injuries were so bad, she had to be taken by LifeFlight to Memorial Hermann hospital. Police say she had a skull fracture and severe lacerations on her arm.

Investigators said Rivera was also hurt in the crash.

They arrested Rivera after he was released from the hospital.

“If her parents were in Mexico, we're not sure where the child was going. Even if he took her to the Fiesta, who was he dropping the child off with? We just don't know,” Manies said.


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