Three nursing home workers were arrested after they allegedly encouraged dementia patients to fight each other in a North Carolina eldercare facility.
Tonacia Yvonne Tyson, Taneshia Deshawn Jordan and Marilyn Latish McKey were arrested this month and are facing assault charges for their “fight club” out of the Danby House assisted-living facility, the Winston-Salem Police Department told Buzzfeed News.
The three employees allegedly egged on the residents of Danby House — which specializes in Alzheimer’s care, according to their website — into fighting each other, even filming the fights. What’s more, on at least one occasion one of the employees assaulted a resident, according to authorities.
The Winston-Salem Journal reported that a video of a fight shows two elderly women getting into an altercation, with one of the women screaming, “Let go, help me, help me, let go,” as she falls onto the bed and being hit by her attacker.
In the background of the video, workers reportedly didn’t intervene and instead egged them on, screaming “punch her in the face” and “stop screaming, (expletive)” as one of the women reportedly choked the other.
One of the arrested workers allegedly told police they filmed the fight because the woman being attacked was “a pain in the butt.” No injuries have been reported resulting from these incidents.
The three nursing home workers have been charged with assaulting an individual with a disability. They are out on bond and are due back in court on Nov. 14th.
Danby House — which has been under investigation by police since June — told WGHP they fired the three workers when they learned of the accusations and have implemented a more rigorous employment process.
The North Carolina Department of Health banned Danby House from accepting new patients, citing multiple “deficiencies” they found in their own investigation, according to the Winston-Salem Journal.
• Bailey Vogt can be reached at bvogt@washingtontimes.com.
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