Burnsville Woman Sentenced To 1 Year For Seriously Injuring Baby
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 35-year-old Burnsville woman has been sentenced for seriously injuring a 9-month-old boy she was caring for last February. The baby suffered severe and permanent brain damage.
Mei Yen Lam was sentenced last Thursday to a year in jail and 20 years of probation. Restitution was also ordered to be paid in the amount of more than $78,000.
According to a criminal complaint, officers and medics were dispatched Feb. 5, 2018, on a report of an unconscious infant. He was taken to the hospital, where doctors determined he suffered brain and spinal cord injuries with bleeding on both sides of his brain and two fractured vertebrae. The baby had to undergo emergency brain surgery, officials said.
Lam reportedly told police the baby appeared to choke on his food and spit up before becoming limp and stop breathing. Police say she later admitted to throwing the infant on the bed "really hard" on multiple occasions before the 911 call in February 2018.
"The abuse and mistreatment of a child is unconscionable. Our thoughts for continued improvement of this child are extended to the baby's parents and family," said Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom, who announced Lam's sentence.