BOTHELL — A 5-month-old baby from the Bothell area was left with cerebral palsy and brain hemorrhages after his nanny handled him in a way that was “shocking and wholly inappropriate,” prosecutors alleged in felony charges filed last month.
A couple living north of Bothell found Amber Rath on Care.com, a website that connects families with caregivers. After two interviews, Rath, 37, started watching the couple’s son three days per week in September, according to the charges filed in Snohomish County Superior Court.
When they hired Rath, they told her their home had cameras in their son’s bedroom and in the living room, the charges say.
At 6:15 a.m. Oct. 16, Rath arrived at their home. Early that morning, she cared for the boy appropriately, deputy prosecutor Julia Hartnell wrote in the charges. At one point, she called him a “fussbucket” because he wouldn’t nap while she bounced him with her foot.
“As time progresses it was evident that the defendant was becoming more and more frustrated” with the boy, Hartnell wrote.
Later, she put him on her lap and repeatedly slammed him down on her legs, according to court papers. That day, she told his parents the baby was more “clingy” than usual.
The next day, Rath’s treatment of the boy escalated, prosecutors allege.
She reportedly fed the baby a bottle, then burped him. Despite frequent crying, he seemed to be acting normal for his age.
In response to his continual crying that morning, Rath thumped him in the back repeatedly, according to court documents. This was out of view of the home’s living room camera, but can reportedly be heard on the footage. This thumping sounded louder than when Rath had burped him.
She also grabbed him by the feet and swung him in the air, according to court papers. Later, Rath allegedly threw him into the couch. The impact was loud enough a thud could be heard on the video footage.
After this, the baby appeared to go limp, with his head tilted back away from his body, the charges say. He stopped crying.
Rath called 911. She told the dispatcher the baby was “having a hard time breathing,” according to court papers.
“He woke up screaming after 30 minutes, so I went to pick him up and kind of laid him on the couch, went to go get his bottle, and when I came back and picked him up he was like limp and not really breathing,” she reportedly said. “He is not really staying awake, so I really need someone over here.”
She also reported she wasn’t sure if he choked on something, according to court papers.
When paramedics arrived minutes later, the boy was suffering a seizure. Rath told them nothing out of the ordinary had happened, according to court documents. She denied any sort of fall under her care.
The boy was rushed to the hospital. Doctors found his injuries were “extensive and severe,” the charges say. He wasn’t using his right-side extremities, consistent with significant injury to that side of his brain.
A doctor’s examination found he’d suffered hemorrhages “too numerous to count,” according to court papers. The doctor noted the injuries were consistent with “abusive head trauma.”
Medical staff determined a minor fall or routine child care couldn’t have caused the baby’s injuries. They diagnosed him with cerebral palsy.
Last month, prosecutors charged Rath with one count each of first- and second-degree assault of a child.
“The defendant engaged in repeated violent abusive treatment of (the boy), a five-month-old child,” Hartnell wrote in the charges. “The defendant intentionally harmed a child who had been placed in her trust and care in her response to the child crying more than was typical.”
Rath has been held in the Snohomish County Jail since Oct. 24 with bail set at $500,000. She has no criminal history. Court records list addresses for her in Lynnwood, Snohomish and Bothell.
Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com; X: @GoldsteinStreet.
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