Nursing home employee beat disabled residents in front of co-worker, Florida cops say
An employee at a Florida nursing home is accused of striking disabled residents multiple times, authorities said.
Detectives began investigating a report Dec. 23 that two residents were abused by an employee at Lake Haven Nursing and Rehabilitation Facility in Dunedin, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said in a Jan. 7 news release.
Nicholas Brown, a 35-year-old nursing assistant who is no longer employed at the facility as a result of the incident, hit two men who are “non-verbal and unable to communicate,” deputies said.
An employee who said they witnessed the incident told authorities Brown struck the residents repeatedly on the legs, side and buttocks, deputies said.
The two residents were treated at the facility for non-life-threatening injuries, according to the release.
McClatchy News reached out to Lake Haven Nursing and Rehabilitation Facility on Jan. 8 but did not immediately receive a response.
Detectives are still investigating the incident, deputies said.
Brown was charged with two counts of abuse or neglect of an aged or disabled person and booked into the Pinellas County Jail on Jan. 7, deputies said.
Dunedin is about a 30-mile drive northwest from Tampa.
