A carer has been caught viciously beating a 93-year-old dementia patient with a dirty nappy before trying to strangle her, in horrific footage released by police.
Dontia Shawnra Arrington, 26, has been charged for allegedly assaulting the vulnerable patient at Landings of Genesee Valley in Flint, Michigan on April 4.
The attack was captured on the nanny cam, which was placed in the victim’s room after her daughter noticed “handprint bruises” on her mother back in December.
“I looked and all I kept saying was, ‘My mother,’ you know? “Why are you doing this to my mother?” She is 93, 6 feet tall and a small lady of 130 pounds,” she said at a news conference where the video was shown. ‘Shocked. Just shocked.”
Footage shows Arrington repeatedly slapping a full diaper over the victim’s head as she sits helplessly in her wheelchair and raising her arms in defense.
The attack was captured on a nanny camera placed in the victim’s room after her daughter noticed “handprint bruises” on her mother back in December.
Dontia Shawnra Arrington, 26, has been charged for allegedly assaulting the vulnerable patient at Landings of Genesee Valley in Flint, Michigan on April 4
The victim’s daughter (center) became emotional as the video was shown at a news conference also attended by Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson (right) and Prosecutor David Leyton (left).
She then tries to strangle the woman in the bathroom. The footage later cuts to the bedroom, where Arrington punches the lady in the mouth while she is still wearing her hygiene gloves.
Arrington raises her fists and appears to threaten the patient as she towers over her wheelchair. The older woman is clearly upset.
The victim’s daughter became emotional as the video was shown at a news conference also attended by Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson and Prosecutor David Leyton.
She said her family set up the nanny camera to find out why her mother was bruised, and it took a few tries to detect the abuse.
The cameras also caught staff stealing from her mother, who had been a patient at the facility for about five years.
She added that her mother has since moved to another residential facility and is improving, but still feels traumatized by the incident.
Sheriff Swanson told the news conference that the patient had been diagnosed with “severe dementia.”
‘[The victim] has no idea what’s going on,” he said. ‘She cannot process what we process on a regular basis.’
“You see the vulnerability of the victim and the fact that she is being hit with a two to three pound soiled diaper,” he added as the gruesome footage was shown.
A carer has been caught viciously beating a 93-year-old dementia patient with a dirty nappy before trying to strangle her, in horrific footage released by police
Footage shows Arrington repeatedly slapping a full diaper over the victim’s head as she sits helplessly in her wheelchair and raises her arms in defense
The victim had been a patient at Landings of Genesee Valley in Flint, Michigan, for approximately five years. She has since been transferred to another facility after being traumatized by the incident
“But if that wasn’t enough, if she put her hand in a choke hold over her throat, it could kill people, especially a 93-year-old.”
Prosecutor Leyton said he was ‘shocked, disgusted and very angry’ after seeing what had happened at the care home where the elderly were supposed to be protected.
“I told Chief Assistant Phillips, ‘We’re going to have to charge this woman as hard as we can,'” he said at the news conference.
Leyton said Arrington has been charged with torture with intent to inflict cruel or extreme physical or mental pain and suffering, which carries a penalty of up to life in prison.
She is also charged with abuse by vulnerable adults, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 15 years, and assault with intent to cause great bodily harm less than murder or by strangulation, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
Swanson said Arrington has no history of violence and that her only previous brush with the law involved alleged petty shoplifting.