Charge: Woman accused of pushing boy's face, hand on burner

EVERETT, Wash. (AP) — A Lynnwood, Washington, woman accused of pushing a young boy's face and hand onto a hot stove burner to punish him for playing with matches has been charged with second-degree assault of a child.

The Daily Herald of Everett reports that Snohomish County Deputy Prosecutor Matt Baldock wrote in court papers that the 8-year-old boy required surgery to remove scar tissue from his palm and got a skin graft.

Baldock filed the charge this week against 34-year-old Cathleen Arthur. Court documents say the boy and his mother lived with the woman at the time the boy suffered the burns in February 2014.

Court documents say Arthur and the boy initially told hospital staff he tripped over the family dogs and fell against the burner.

After the boy and his mother moved, prosecutors say he told a social worker he was burned because the woman caught him playing with matches and learned he had burned her bedding.

It was not known late Tuesday if the woman was represented by a lawyer.