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WEST JORDAN — A mother who admitted to police she "lost it" due to frustration with her daughter's school performance was arrested for investigation of child abuse for allegedly holding a knife to her throat and threatening to kill her.
The incident happened Monday night at a West Jordan apartment.
The 39-year-old woman told responding officers she was upset with her daughter because of her poor school attendance and grades, according to a Salt Lake County Jail report.
"She stated that she had enough of her daughter acting the way that she did and had 'lost it,'" the report states.
The mother hit her daughter on the arm with a shoe every time she perceived that she told her a lie, police said. After being hit with the shoe several times, the daughter told officers, she was sitting on the couch doing homework when her mother confronted her again and became angry because she believed her daughter was "smirking" or "smarting off" to her, according to the report.
You don't make those kind of threats and you don't use weapons. If the parents need help, there are resources available out there. Call the police, we'll get some victim advocates out there to help you get some counseling, talk to neighbors, talk to ecclesiastical leaders.
–Sgt. Dan Roberts, West Jordan police
That's when the mother got a knife from the kitchen "and stood over the victim holding the knife near her throat and stated that she would end her life," police wrote. The daughter was not injured. The mother told investigators she only intended to scare her daughter.
The mother was arrested for investigation of felony intentional child abuse.
West Jordan Police Sgt. Dan Roberts said while every parent gets frustrated with their children, threatening a child's life or pulling a weapon on them is never acceptable.
"You don't make those kind of threats and you don't use weapons," he said. "If the parents need help, there are resources available out there. Call the police, we'll get some victim advocates out there to help you get some counseling, talk to neighbors, talk to ecclesiastical leaders."
Roberts said if a parent and a child need a break from each other, one of the parties could go to a neighbor or relative's house to cool down. Salt Lake County Youth Services offers a similar program for families. It can be reached at 385-468-4500.
