Lacey mom accused of yanking, choking 10-year-old son

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A Lacey mom was booked for assault after allegedly yanking her 10-year-old son to the ground and choking him for being noisy while playing video games with friends.

The suspect, 39, was arrested on April 27 after police received a child abuse complaint from Child Protective Services (CPS).

The boy told his father that he was assaulted by his mother on April 22, according to a CPS employee who contacted authorities.

The father told police that the suspect had custody of the boy and his sister on the weekend of the incident. He learned of the alleged assault when he noticed that his son “seemed down” and had bruising on his arm, police said.

Officers talked to the principal of the boy’s school, who said he was aware of the allegations and reported them to the paraeducator, who then relayed the complaint to CPS.

The principal also alerted authorities when the suspect picked up her son from school despite being informed by police that she was not allowed.

Alleged assault

The boy told an interviewer from a children’s advocacy center that the alleged assault occurred at 1 a.m. while he was in his room playing video games with his friends. He said his mom was “wasted” drunk and told them to be quiet.

The son said he was sitting in a gaming chair when his mom grabbed his forearm and yanked him onto the ground, causing him to hit his head hard. He said the fall felt like his brain “shook around.”

His mother then grabbed him by his upper left arm and made him stand up while pinching him, the boy said. She pulled him out into the hallway, grabbed his jaw and squeezed it, then began “choking” him with one hand, he added.

The boy said that it felt like he was “breathing through a coffee straw.” When his mom let him go, he went back into his room crying.

The next day, the boy said, his mother acted like nothing happened. He added that this was the first time that something like this happened and believed that her behavior had been influenced by her drinking.

The boy said his mom had been drinking a lot lately and on one occasion left him and his sister with an 11-year-old babysitter. She sometimes drives drunk while they’re in the car, he added.

The boy’s sister told an interviewer, “My mom did child abuse to my brother.” She also said her mom drinks, smokes and “gets too crazy.”

The son told his school’s paraeducator that he had recently lost his great grandmother, his mom’s live-in boyfriend, and a neighbor he was close to. He said his mom had been sad and her drinking worsened when her boyfriend died.

The boy also said “Fridays are the worst” because his mom and her friends sit around a propane fire pit to smoke and drink. He said his mom gets “blackout drunk” and she and her friends “get wasted.”

Friend backs mom

Meanwhile, the suspect’s roommate told police that he was home on the night of the alleged assault.

The friend confirmed that the suspect did have several friends over on that night and that alcohol was involved but said he did not see anyone, including the suspect, drinking excessively.

The boy and his friends were being loud, the friend said. He also accused the 10-year-old of being disrespectful to his mother and sneaking out of the house as well as hitting his sister in the past.

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