Winston-Salem Police DepartmentThree carers working at an assisted-living facility in North Carolina, USA, have been accused of running a fight club in which they had two elderly women with dementia attack each other.
Marilyn Latish McKey, 32, Tonacia Yvonne Tyson, 20, and Taneshia Deshawn Jordan, 26, were all charged with assaulting disabled persons in connection with the abuse at the Danby House in Winston-Salem, according to reports by Fox 8.
Police announced their arrests on Friday after a complaint of elder abuse involving a 70-year-old woman and a 73-year-old woman was made in June.
Google MapsLieutenant Gregory Dorn told Fox 8:
When you’re talking about someone who can’t take care of themselves, we’ve got to give specific attention to that.
During the probe, investigators discovered some Danby House workers were encouraging residents to fight each other and that an employee physically assaulted one of the residents in a separate incident, according to the report.
Court documents claim McKey pushed the 73-year-old woman into her room while Tyson and Jordan filmed the encounter and did not help.
In another incident, the 73-year-old woman began to fight with the 70-year-old woman while all three of the care workers stood and watched, filming the fight and encouraging it, according to court documents cited by Fox 8.
No injuries were reported to police during the probe.
Winston-Salem Police DepartmentAccording to documents from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, one of the women shouted ‘Let go! Help me! Help me! Let go!’ while the women continued to watch without helping.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Danby House said:
Danby House has a zero-tolerance policy for the mistreatment of those in our care and as such, McKey, Tyson, and Jordan were terminated immediately in June when community management was alerted to this situation.
Administrators have been working closely with the Winston-Salem Police Department throughout its investigation to ensure justice is served. Additional staff training and a more rigorous vetting process for all new and existing employees at Danby House has been implemented.
If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via [email protected]
Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.