You trust them with your kid. You pay premium prices, pack the diaper bag, and wave goodbye, assuming your child is safe behind locked doors with trained professionals. Then you get a phone call that flips your world completely upside down.
A Los Angeles family is living through that horror right now. Matthew Kittle and his wife have filed a massive lawsuit against The Bay Club El Segundo, a high-end facility in Southern California. The details are brutal. A daycare employee allegedly hoisted their 23-month-old son, C.K., six feet into the air like a ragdoll, lost her grip, and dropped him directly onto a hardwood floor.
To make things worse, the employee then fell backward, landing straight on top of the helpless toddler.
This isn't just a story about an accident. It's an alarming look at how some childcare facilities operate when things go wrong. It highlights a terrifying pattern of cover-ups, downplayed injuries, and administrative gaps that should scare any working parent.
The Cover Up That Failed
When you drop your kid off at an upscale club, you expect accountability. You don't expect a curated script.
According to the lawsuit filed by Rosen Saba, LLP, the facility called Matthew Kittle shortly after the incident on March 17, 2025. The staff member told him his son had fallen but "since calmed down." They basically told him he didn't even need to bother picking the boy up but just wanted to keep him in the loop. They downplayed it completely.
When Kittle arrived a short time later after a second call saying the boy wouldn't stop crying, the reality hit him like a truck.
The right side of his son’s face was severely bruised. His right eye was swollen completely shut. His mouth was bleeding and swollen. The little boy was lethargic and extremely drowsy—classic, textbook signs of a severe head injury. The emergency room doctors later confirmed the worst. The toddler suffered a traumatic brain injury and permanent hearing loss.
The club tried to claim the worker was merely in a "squatting position" holding the boy about a foot and a half off the ground when she fell. But they forgot one crucial thing. The cameras were rolling. Security footage obtained by the family's legal team showed the worker swinging the boy by his hands between her legs before tossing him over her head, roughly six feet in the air, and dropping him.
The Unlicensed Reality of Premium Childcare
You think paying a premium keeps your kids safe. It doesn't.
The lawsuit reveals an even deeper issue that crosses the line from negligence into outright fraud. The Bay Club was operating its clubhouse childcare center without a required California daycare license. They allegedly claimed an exemption they weren't entitled to.
When reporters reached out to the California Department of Social Services, the state couldn't find any license, pending application, or official record for a facility at that location. They were operating completely under the radar of state regulators.
Without state licensing, there are no surprise state inspections. There's no official oversight on staff-to-child ratios. Background checks and specialized training often fall through the cracks because no state official is auditing the files.
How to Protect Your Kid From Daycare Negligence
You can't watch your kids 24/7, but you can change how you vet the people who do. Don't rely on a fancy lobby or a high price tag.
- Verify the license yourself: Never take a facility's word for it. Go straight to your state’s Department of Social Services database. Look up the specific facility location. If it's not there, or if they claim an "exemption" because they're a gym or a private club, walk away.
- Demand to know the camera policy: Ask if they have cameras and who has access to the footage. A facility that hesitates to review video after an incident is a massive red flag.
- Watch for the post-incident downplay: If a daycare calls you and says your child had an accident but "is fine now," go see for yourself immediately. Check for pupillary changes, extreme drowsiness, and unusual irritability. Trust your eyes, not their report.
The Bay Club has hidden behind the standard corporate shield, stating they can't comment on ongoing litigation. Meanwhile, a family is left dealing with the reality of a toddler who has a brain injury and hearing loss before even turning two.
Toddler suffered brain injury after daycare worker tossed him: Lawsuit
This video coverage provides a deeper look into the official legal filings and the specific injuries details reported by the family's legal team.
