Three assisted living facility workers ‘videotaped and encouraged elderly dementia patients to fight each other’
- Marilyn Latish McKey, 32; Tonacia Yvonne Tyson, 20, and Taneshia Deshawn Jordan, 26, were arrested after an investigation in North Carolina
- Police said the three women were accused of elderly abuse at Danby House in Winston-Salem
- In one incident, the workers allegedly encouraged two patients, 73 and 70, to fight and did not intervene even when they were choking each other
- In a second incident, one of the women was allegedly pushed an elderly patient
- Both incidents were said to have been caught on video recorded by the workers
Three North Carolina assisted living facility employees face charges after being accused of encouraging dementia patients to fight and then filming the results.
Police said that Marilyn Latish McKey, 32; Tonacia Yvonne Tyson, 20, and Taneshia Deshawn Jordan, 26, were arrested in early October, following a June 21 report of elderly abuse at the Danby House in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Authorities said that the three women, who face charges of assaulting disabled people, were employees at the Danby House, which is an assisted living and memory care facility.
Police said assisted living home workers Marilyn Latish McKey, 32 (left); Tonacia Yvonne Tyson, 20 (right), and Taneshia Deshawn Jordan, 26, were arrested in early October
Court documents obtained by Fox 8 showed that McKey was accused of pushing a 73-year-old woman into her room while Tyson and Jordan filmed the incident and did not intervene.
The documents also revealed a second incident, during which McKey, Tyson and Jordan watched, encouraged and videotaped the 73-year-old woman fighting with a 70-year-old woman.
Tonacia Yvonne Tyson, 20. She and the other two workers at the assisted living facility face charges of assaulting an individual with a disability. The patients who were their alleged victims suffered dementia
Investigators found that during the second incident, the elderly women – both dementia patients – fought each other in a bedroom, hitting each other as the staffers looked on without trying to physical stop the altercation, according to the News & Record. When one of the patients asked for help, a staffer – it’s unclear which one – told her to ‘stop screaming, (expletive).’
At some point during the fight, one of the elderly women began choking the other one. One of the staffers could be heard telling the woman to ‘punch her in the face,’ while another staffer tells her coworker to film the fight and send her the video.
The investigation stated that no injuries to the elderly women were reported or found.
During the investigation, one of the staffers who was arrested allegedly told police that one of the elderly woman was a ‘pain in the butt’ and that was why they had recorded the videos of the incidents.
Jordan was arrested on October 2 and charged with one count of assaulting an individual with a disability. She was given a $1,500 unsecured bond.
Tyson was arrested on October 3 on the same assault charge. She was released from custody on a written promise to appear in court.
The incidents took place at Danby House (pictured) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The facility said they fired the women after learning of the elderly abuse claims against them
McKey was arrested on October 10 on two counts of assaulting an individual with a disability and was given a $1,000 unsecured bond.
The Danby House said that they fired the women immediately after they heard about the allegations against them.
‘Danby House has a zero-tolerance policy for the mistreatment of those in our care,’ a spokesperson said in a statement to Fox 8, adding that the facility worked with police throughout the investigation.
‘Additional staff training and a more rigorous vetting process for all new and existing employees at Danby House has been implemented. Danby House has undergone leadership changes in recent months, and we look at situations like these as opportunities to improve upon the high standard of care we provide for our residents.’