A California family is suing a premium hospitality and fitness center after security footage showed an employee throw their 23-month-old son into the air, dropping him onto a hardwood floor and causing a traumatic brain injury.
The lawsuit accuses the Bay Club Clubhouse in El Segundo of intentionally falsifying incident reports and downplaying the severity of the toddler’s injuries to his parents. The facility claimed the child fell just 18 inches from a squatting position, but later reviewed surveillance video showed the worker launching the boy roughly six feet into the air, according to a complaint seen by the Los Angeles Times.
The incident occurred on the morning of March 17, 2025, when Matthew Kittle left his son, identified in court documents as C.K., at the supervised childcare center for a scheduled three-hour stay.
Security camera footage obtained during the legal proceedings shows the toddler approaching a female employee with his hands up. The worker then appears to lift the boy by his hands, swing him between her legs twice and hoist him above her head. According to the complaint, the worker let go of the child’s hands at the peak of the throw, failed to catch him and then fell backward on top of the child after he struck the floor.
Following the fall, daycare staff reportedly placed two phone calls to the family.
During the first call, employees told Kittle that his son had fallen but calmed down, advising that an early pickup was unnecessary, the lawsuit says. A second call was placed at 9:45 a.m. requesting that Kittle retrieve the child because staff could not settle him. The lawsuit states the club gave the father the impression that the child had sustained a minor injury and was simply causing stress for the employees.
Upon arrival, Kittle reportedly discovered his son had severe bruising across the right side of his face, a swollen mouth and a right eye that was swollen shut. After taking the toddler home, the parents observed he was irritable, lethargic and abnormally drowsy.
When the parents pressed for details, a club employee reportedly told Kittle that the worker had tipped over while squatting. Daycare staff also said that the boy wanted to sleep immediately after the incident and that they had struggled to keep him awake.
The family took the child to an emergency room, where doctors told them that the daycare’s version of events did not align with the physical trauma, according to NewsNation.
Doctors diagnosed the boy with blunt head trauma, a concussion and facial abrasions. The lawsuit states the child continues to suffer from long-term symptoms, including hearing loss.
The complaint alleges that the Bay Club initially denied the parents access to the daycare’s surveillance footage. Once the family managed to obtain the video, they realized the facility had intentionally misled them.
“The daycare facility should have the highest amount of care for the children, and if a child gets sick or injured, they should notify the parents with transparency and urgency,” the family’s attorney, Ryan Saba of Rosen Saba, said in a statement, according to ABC News. Saba called the club’s alleged attempts to hide the details of the incident “inexcusable.”
The Bay Club operates multiple hospitality and fitness locations across California, Oregon and Washington.
The Independent has contacted Bay Club Clubhouse and Rosen Saba for comment.
