Nursing Home Worker Hit Disabled Residents: Pinellas Sheriff

DUNEDIN, FL — An employee at Lake Haven Nursing and Rehabilitation Facility in Dunedin is accused of battering two disabled residents, according to a Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office news release.

Nicholas Brown, 35, of St. Petersburg was charged with two counts of abuse or neglect of an aged or disabled person.

Detectives began investigating Brown after a report that two residents, both men, were battered by an employee at the facility.

One victim suffers from a traumatic brain injury and the other is a quadriplegic with intellectual disabilities, the sheriff’s office said. Both are non-verbal and unable to communicate.

The incidents were witnessed by another employee at the facility, detectives said.

The witness said that while in a room caring for the victims, Brown, a certified nursing assistant, hit them multiple times on the legs and side with an open hand. He then began to forcefully hit them with an open hand on the buttocks, the sheriff’s office said.

The victims were evaluated and treated at the facility for non-life-threatening injuries.

Brown was arrested Jan. 7 and booked into Pinellas County Jail. His employment was terminated because of the incident.