Two staffers at a New Jersey nursing home were indicted after allegedly pepper-spraying an 87-year-old dementia patient, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Nurse Lisa Erikson, 56, of Manchester, was indicted on charges of aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and assault on an institutionalized elderly person, according to the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.
Erikson and Joshua Benner, a 34-year-old certified nursing assistant from Brick, were also indicted on neglect of an elderly or disabled adult.
A third staffer involved was not indicted and charges against them were dismissed.
The alleged incident occurred in Ocean County at the Whiting Gardens Rehabilitation and Nursing Center back on March 19, when the staffers responded to an elderly man “engaged in destructive behavior.”
The patient, who prosecutors say suffers from dementia, depression and anxiety, allegedly ripped out a computer mouse and phone receiver by their cords before hitting a nursing cart.
That’s when Erikson “walked toward the victim and sprayed him at close range with her personal [pepper] spray, as he attempted to shield himself,” prosecutors said, alleging she then sprayed him again and left him cowering on the floor.
After several minutes of lying unattended, the man “crawled to stand up” and then entered another resident’s room.
Shortly after, Erikson and Benner allegedly forced him into his own room and left him alone until police and emergency medical services arrived about an hour after the incident first began. He was treated on the scene and taken to a hospital.
“Residents of adult care facilities need to be treated with respect, dignity and care,” Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement. “Physically assaulting a resident is inexcusable, and we will not stand by and allow such conduct to continue. These defendants will be held accountable.”
