MARYSVILLE — A Marysville infant may face lifelong brain damage after a babysitter violently bounced the girl in an effort to get her to stop crying.
Two months after the toddler was born, the baby was rushed to a hospital after the sitter, the mother’s boyfriend, called 911 to say the infant was having trouble breathing, according to a court document filed Monday in Everett District Court.
The incident occurred on Oct. 2.
Doctors at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett sent the girl onto Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, and she was later taken to Seattle Children’s.
Doctors there determined the baby had damage to her brain and eye, and that the evidence suggested “severe inflicted injuries caused by an adult,” the court document said.
Some of the injuries were fresh, doctors said, but they also determined it wasn’t the first time the child had been abused.
A boyfriend of the girl’s mother was baby-sitting. The man, 23, at first told detectives he wasn’t responsible.
He had known the baby’s mother for about a month and was entrusted with watching the woman’s three children while she worked, the document said.
Police interviewed the baby sitter again last week. That’s when he allegedly admitted to detectives he hurt the infant.
The man had a rough night before taking over child-care duties from his girlfriend.
He said he had worked an overnight shift, came home, drank about eight beers and slept two hours before getting up to watch the kids, the court document said.
The baby was crying and wouldn’t stop, he told police.
He allegedly put the child on his knee and started bouncing her “too hard,” according to the document. The girl’s head flopped forward.
A little while later, she started fussing some more and the man again bounced her.
The man told police the baby just lay there with “droopy” eyes.
About an hour and a half later, the baby sitter started to get concerned. The child still had droopy eyes and was gasping for breath, the document said.
He called the girlfriend, then waited 20 minutes before calling 911, the documents said.
The man allegedly told police he was tired and frustrated at the time. He lied to police at first because he was scared, the document said.
The baby has been released from the hospital and now is living with foster parents, Marysville police Sgt. Wendy Wade said. The girl’s prognosis isn’t yet known, but the brain damage could be permanent, Wade said.
State Child Protective Services removed two other children from the home, Wade said.
The man was booked on Nov. 26 into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of first-degree child assault. He’s being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.
Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or jholtz@heraldnet.com.
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