VERO BEACH — A 38-year-old woman is accused of punching and scratching a teenager and hitting her with a cable cord because she was on her phone for a long period of time the night before, police said.
Apolonia Sanchez-Palacios, of Vero Beach, was charged with child abuse. She was released Monday from the Indian River County Jail; her bail amount was not available.
Apolonia Sanchez-Palacios
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY INDIAN RIVER COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Shortly after 9 a.m. Sunday, police went to Sanchez-Palacios’ home in response to a disturbance. Police spoke with Sanchez-Palacios, who said she had an altercation with a 16-year-old girl about her phone usage.
Sanchez-Palacios told police the teen was using the phone “all of last night” talking to her boyfriend and that she wasn’t happy about it. Sanchez-Palacios admitted to police she hit the teen on the mouth.
Police met with the girl at a 7-Eleven convenience store where they saw visible injuries on her face. Police saw scratch marks below her mouth, red marks on her cheeks, an open cut behind her right ear and a red mark on her left leg.
The girl told police she and Sanchez-Palacios had an altercation about the girl using her phone “all of last night.” She said Sanchez-Palacios hit her with a cable cord twice on the back.
The girl grabbed the cable cord from Sanchez-Palacios to stop her, but then Sanchez-Palacios grabbed a second cable cord and hit the girl on her left leg, police said.
When the girl grabbed the second cable cord, Sanchez-Palacios then punched, slapped and scratched the teen on the face, according to authorities. The girl could not remember how many times she was hit.
Sanchez-Palacios was arrested and taken to the county jail for booking.
Vero News does not identify the relationship between those arrested and minors in child abuse cases.
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