Crime & Safety

Lakewood Babysitter Guilty In Death Of Toddler

The 2-year-old died last February of head injuries, according to court records.

LAKEWOOD, WA - A Lakewood woman will spend more than eight years in jail for fatally injuring a 2-year-old she was taking care of. Atalani Tili, 31, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a manslaughter charged and was sentenced to 102 months in prison.

Tili assaulted the 2-year-old twice in of February 2017 at her home in Lakewood. The boy was staying with Tili while his mother was beginning a new job, according to the records.

On Feb. 13, Tili was tending to a cut on the boy's eye when he bit her finger, according to court records. The boy wouldn't let go of her finger, she told Lakewood police, and so she threw him. The boy hit his head on a dresser and he began whimpering. Tili told police that the boy acted strangely after that and went to bed early. She hoped he would get better with sleep, she told police.

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A week prior, Tili told police that she had shaken the boy after he threw a tantrum, according to court records, and that he may have hit his head on a dishwasher.

Tili took the boy to the hospital on Feb. 14, and he was treated for brain swelling and subdural hematoma, and for a stroke he had suffered. His family decided to take him off life support on Feb. 21. He died three days later.

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