Babysitter burns toddler over syrup-covered hands: DA

A Queens babysitter is facing serious charges after she scalded a two-year-old for getting syrup all over his hands, prosecutors said.

Yvette Douglas, 20, of Cambria Heights, Queens, is currently awaiting arraignment on charges of second-degree assault and endangering the welfare of a child. If convicted, she could be in prison for up to seven years.

The toddler’s mother left her sonand 3-year-old daughter at Douglas’ home around 7 a.m. on Feb. 2, according to prosecutors. A few hours later, the mother received a call from Douglas that her son had scalded himself from pulling a pot of boiling water off of the stove. The boy was taken to Nassau University Hospital Burn Unit with severe burns to his hands. Doctors allegedly determined that the child’s burns were inconsistent with Douglas’ story.

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In a statement to police, Douglas then allegedly revealed that the toddler was eating waffles when he got syrup on his hands and would not cooperate with her cleaning his hands. Out of frustration, Douglas held both the child’s hands under water at the kitchen sink to wash them.

“As he continued to cry, Douglas allegedly turned the water faucet from warm to hot, at which point the child continued crying and was struggling to remove his hands from the water. After allegedly holding his hands under the water for approximately two minutes, Douglas observed that the child’s hands had become red and that the skin ‘sagged,’” the district attorney’s office said in a statement.

The hospital concluded that the child’s burns matched the story that Douglas told police.

The boy, who suffered severe burns to both sides of his hands, may require surgery.

“As a babysitter, the defendant had an obligation to provide a safe environment for the child and keep him from harm,” District District Attorney Richard A. Brown said. “Instead, she is alleged to have tortured and caused him physical and emotional injury simply because he behaved like any other 2-year-old child eating a plate of waffles with syrup.”