2 Nursing Home Workers Battered Elderly Residents: Pinellas Sheriff

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Two employees at a St. Petersburg-area assisted living facility face charges after battering two elderly residents, according to a Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office news release.

Deputies began investigating reports of the battery complaint at Ivy Ridge Assisted Living Facility, 7179 40th Ave. N., on March 14.

The facility’s executive director reported the incident, which happened March 12, to the sheriff’s office after watching it on surveillance video, PCSO said.

The incident was initially reported by staff as a resident-on-resident battery, but the director was suspicious of the claims, the agency said.

Investigators found that two employees, Rosa Edwards, 23, and Aneisha Hall, 19, both of St. Petersburg, started an altercation with an elderly male resident who was pushing an elderly woman at the facility down the hall in her wheelchair, the sheriff’s office said.

Edwards whipped the man with a lanyard, while laughing, when a physical altercation started, deputies said.

Both Edwards and Hall grabbed the man, knocking him to the ground while he held onto the wheelchair. This caused it to fall over with the woman in it, the sheriff’s office said.

Both Edwards and Hall ran away from the area of the incident and out of view of the camera, leaving both residents on the ground

According to deputies, Hall and Edwards reported the incident to their co-worker; however they said that the man battered the woman in the wheelchair, and they were not involved.

While being interviewed by deputies, Edwards admitted to using excessive force during the incident. She told investigators they should have handled it differently.

Both Hall and Edwards were taken into custody and charged with two counts of battery on a person 65 years of age or older, the sheriff’s office said.

Their employment at the facility was immediately suspended, pending termination.

Neither of the residents were injured during the incident.