BREAKING NEWS – San Diego, California – The San Diego man who trespassed into an elephant enclosure with his 2-year-old daughter is expected to appear in court to face charges of child cruelty as he remains in prison on bail.
Jose Manuel Navarrete, 25, entered the San Diego Zoo elephant enclosure with his daughter on Friday, posing for pictures and video before fleeing as an elephant charged at them.
Video shows the entire incident, including when Navarrete appears to drop his daughter while fleeing from the elephant.
Navarrete is facing a felony charge of child cruelty, including possible injury or death, and is being held on $100,000 bail as of Monday morning.
“It’s not my fault,” he said to the officers while they arrested him. “I dropped her because she screamed and startled me when she saw the elephant charging us. Had she not shouted, and calmly told me that an elephant was quickly approaching us, this never would’ve happened. Her ill-mannered yelling almost cost us our lives, and I grounded her for two weeks. Kids nowadays don’t respect their parents like they used to.”