TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

A neighbor who first found the 4-year-old boy whose eyes were allegedly mutilated by his father said Tuesday the man had been suddenly acting paranoid.

But before one horrible day last month -- with few exceptions -- father and son got along well, said neighbor Tonya Hammond.

Angel Vidal Mendoza sometimes had a short temper that caused his son to balk at commands, but Hammond said she neither saw nor heard anything that would justify a call to authorities.

Three other parents who interacted regularly with Mendoza and his son also described a good relationship between the two. Little Angelo was always clean, well cared for and often near his dad, they said.

That's what makes the attack "so very unexpected," said Adam Joseph, father of a 4-year-old boy who regularly played with Angelo at a Head Start School in Oildale. Joseph said the father and son were inseparable during a pony ride the school arranged.

Jennifer Harris, whose daughter played with Angelo at school, said Mendoza always had "a smile on his face and was willing to participate in school projects."

But in the week before viciously blinding his son, the 34-year-old said he was worried he might be tested for drugs and asked Hammond if she knew of any medication that could mask drug use, she said.

Mendoza told her people had been asking about possible drug use because he had fallen asleep in a class, she said.

Police said the Bakersfield man, who is expected to be in court today for a status hearing, showed symptoms of PCP use on April 28 after he attacked his son and then repeatedly struck his own legs with an ax.

He faces charges of mayhem, torture and child cruelty, and this is not Mendoza's first run-in with the law. He had a 10-year criminal record that included drug use, battery, check forgery and a child endangerment charge arising out of a drug case.

That 2006 child endangerment incident typically would be enough to get scrutiny from CPS, officials said. But top CPS officials told the Board of Supervisors Tuesday that the mind-numbing attack on the child could not have been prevented.

The law prevents CPS from releasing the specifics of this case, Pat Cheadle, director of the Department of Human Services, told supervisors. But the agency has reviewed its involvement with the family and found nothing to indicate its duties were performed improperly.

After the attack, rumors surfaced that CPS failed to act after the boy came to school over the last few months with a black eye and other bruises.

School officials would not comment on those rumors, but Mendoza's cousin, 41-year-old Esmeralda Vidal, said she saw the boy and his dad several times a week and never saw any injuries like that.

Mendoza "cared about his son," she said. "That was his world."

Mendoza, who was born and raised in Bakersfield, used a wheelchair after he was stabbed and paralyzed by a robber a few years ago, she said.

As for Hammond, she says she is "still having nightmares" about finding her young neighbor with the severe injuries on his face. "It was really hard for me to find him like that," she said.