Mom charged with attacking 12-year-old daughter said girl is ‘ungrateful’

A Tacoma woman is accused of hitting her daughter with drumsticks, throwing cat food at her and waving a knife around until the 12-year-old ran crying from their apartment.

The 56-year-old was charged Thursday with second-degree child assault. She is scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 14.

Charging documents give this account:

The mother came home drunk Aug. 16 and backhanded her 12-year-old daughter across the face, then threw a pillow and cat food and demanded her child clean it up.

As the girl was cleaning up the mess, her mother allegedly complained she wasn’t doing it fast enough, held a pillow over her face and kicked her in the stomach.

She also hit her in the back with drumsticks and waved a knife around, at one point bringing it close to her daughter’s chest.

The girl later told police “her mother was drunk and she was scared she would be stabbed so she ran,” records state.

A neighbor found the 12-year-old crying in the elevator and called 911.

Officers who responded to the apartment said they smelled alcohol on the mother and found a liquor bottle in the trash, though the woman denied drinking that night.

She allegedly told police her daughter is an “ungrateful” and brought bed bugs into the house, slashed her tires and threatened her.

When officers asked to look at the car with slashed tires, the mother refused to tell them where the vehicle was.

The mother said she didn’t know how to use or hold a knife, only hit drumsticks on the couch “for emphasis” and kicked the cat food rather than threw it, records say.

She did admit spitting on her daughter and forcing her to swallow it.

Neighbors reported hearing “very violent” noises coming from the apartment and a fearful voice saying, “No, no, no,” according to charging papers.

This story was originally published February 1, 2019 at 9:47 AM.