Mom arrested in ab roller attack

Maricopa police arrested a mom Friday after she and her daughter allegedly exchanged blows with exercise equipment. The spat started over accusations of being a “bad mother.” 

Maricopa Police Department said 45-year-old Flora E. Retana Escoto tried to hit her daughter with an ab roller. 

A probable cause statement obtained by InMaricopa detailed the incident.  

Just after 3:30 p.m., police responded to a home on West Amsterdam Road in the Maricopa Meadows after the daughter reported a domestic aggravated assault. 

She told dispatch she struck her mother in the head with the ab roller after her mom had swung at her with the same workout accessory. 

Officers found Retana Escoto near the front door. She was bleeding on the pavement from a head injury, according to the probable cause statement. Police spoke with her adult daughter, who told them how an argument escalated to physical violence. 

Retana Escoto allegedly tried to attack her daughter, who managed to wrestle the ab roller away. The alleged victim told officers she mistakenly hit her mother in the forehead. 

Retana Escoto ran out of the back door and around the house, the woman told police. 

Police noted the alleged victim had defensive wounds on her arms from a possible ab-roller strike. They found the fitness tool on the floor in the kitchen. 

Retana Escoto told officers she was tired of her daughter lobbing accusations she was a “bad mother.” She acknowledged it was wrong to swing an object at her.

But police believe Retana Escoto was the primary aggressor after interviewing four witnesses, all of whom were children. 

Escoto was booked into Pinal County jail on two domestic violence charges including aggravated assault with a dangerous instrument. 

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