Glenn Caldwell Jr.

A Tyler father was arrested this week after his daughter with an intellectual disability had her feet amputated due to severe frostbite.

Glenn Caldwell, 45, was charged with injury to a child/disabled person by omission on Tuesday for accusations of not seeking medical attention for his 17-year-old daughter until nearly a week after he noticed she had frostbite.

Caldwell admitted he noticed his daughter’s feet were “swollen, purple and bleeding” and she complained about her feet hurting on Feb. 23 or 24 after the snow and ice melted. He also told police she woke him up in the middle of the night because of her feet pain, according to the arrest affidavit.

According to the Smith County Sheriff’s Office, Child Protective Services made a report on March 2 with the sheriff’s office regarding a possible child abuse case. Health care professionals with UT Health Tyler notified CPS of a 17-year-old girl with a disability who had been transported to the hospital for severe frostbite to both feet.

She was diagnosed with severe frostbite, and both of her feet had to be amputated, the sheriff’s office said. The victim was previously diagnosed with mental developmental delay and intellectual disability.

The sheriff’s office said Caldwell failed to seek medical attention for his daughter until March 1 after she suffered with extreme frostbite on both feet for at least five days.

According to the affidavit, Caldwell told detectives he went without electricity for two days during the winter storm from Feb. 15 to 19, and his daughter wore shoes without socks. He told investigators he could not make her wear socks.

The affidavit stated Caldwell admitted to seeing blood coming from his daughter’s bedroom leading to the living room and bathroom, and he knew the blood was coming from the girl’s feet.

Caldwell told police he didn’t take the girl to the doctor until Feb. 28, which was five days later. When police asked Caldwell why he waited to take his daughter to the doctor, Caldwell said he had been “putting it off, and putting it off,” and said “I could not do that anymore,” the affidavit read.

Caldwell said he and his son used electric heaters in their rooms for heat, while his daughter slept in the living room and used the electric oven for heat. He said the window to her bedroom was missing since he moved into the home on Dec. 1 last year, the affidavit said.

He told police he didn’t take his daughter to a family doctor, and claimed he was trying to find a physician, the document stated.

When detectives went to Caldwell’s residence for the investigation, police said there was still no running water and no food in the home on March 3. The office said there was blood on the girl’s bed, sheets, door and its frame and a trail of blood throughout the residence, according to the affidavit.

An arrest affidavit was presented to Judge Taylor Heaton of Smith County Court at Law No. 2, and Heaton issued a warrant for the arrest of Caldwell.

Caldwell was booked into the Smith County Jail, where he remains on a $250,000 bond.