A security guard who saw Gabriel Fernandez's injuries called 911 to report the abuse only to be told the situation was not an emergency.
Arturo Martinez testified that in 2013 when he served as a guard for a company that worked with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Depatment.
He says that he first saw Gabriel when he accompanied his mother Pearl as she filed public assistance paperwork.
"I saw him sad, full of bruises, with cigarette burns on the back of his head, neck, lacerations."
Martinez says he remembered seeing between 17-23 cigarette burns on his neck, ears and said some appeared to be both new and old.
He also testified to seeing bruises on the side of his head, nose, under his eyes and his wrist and Gabriel even appeared to be rubbing his wrists.
Martinez says he documented everything he saw and called the police to report the child, bruised and burned.
The dispatcher on the recording played in court said:
"You need to call the non-emergency number sir."
Martinez also testified that when Pearl noticed people looking at her son, she tried to block him from view.
"She was nervous. She observed me looking at him, and she didn't like that. I was about to get up and ask what had happened to him, but at the point she was done and walked out, blocking me."