HOUSTON – Deputy Geno Benavides with the Harris County Precinct 1 Constable's Office was doing routine police work at a southwest Houston apartment complex when something got his attention.
"The sound was like no other sound I had ever heard," he said. "It was worse than a cry. It was a sound that was just horrifying."
Benavides determined the sound was coming from an upstairs apartment -- he was hearing the cries of a child. He went to investigate and demanded the man inside the apartment open the door.
Inside the apartment was a 6-year-old boy. Benavides said he didn't have a shirt on and his tiny body was covered in lacerations, bumps, bruises and welts from a belt buckle.
"I noticed there were marks all over his body, his arms, his legs," he said. "It was pretty devastating. I've never seen anything like that in 22 years. I really believe he would have killed this young man if we hadn't stopped."
Police arrested Lamar Harris, who's been charged with felony injury to a child. Harris told police he was disciplining the boy -- his girlfriend's son.
"These injuries were not consistent with discipline or a spanking," Benavides said. "This was a beating. A terrible beating and I feared for that child's life."
The boy's mother spoke to Local 2. She wasn't home when the alleged incident took place.
"I don't think he meant to hurt him," Fernanda Rodriguez said. "I don't even think he tried to abuse him."
Rodriguez is now home alone. Her boyfriend is behind bars and her three children have all been removed from the home by CPS investigators. In addition to the 6-year-old, she has a 7-year-old son and a 3-month-old son who are now staying with their grandmother.
The 6-year-old was kept overnight at the hospital for observation, she said.
Harris was released from prison in 2013 after being convicted in 2005 for aggravated sexual assault on a 13-year-old girl. He's now being held without bond on this most recent charge.
"Anytime law enforcement can save a child, it's a very good day for us," said Precinct 1 Constable Alan Rosen.
Benavides thinks it's a blessing he just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
"I think it's an appointment," he said. "I believe we're all placed in different scenarios for a reason."