Woman, 91, Dies After Being Assaulted In South Plainfield Nursing Home

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ — A 91-year-old woman died last week after she was punched in the face by another resident in a South Plainfield nursing home, according to South Plainfield Police and the woman's family.

This is the second time this January a New Jersey nursing home resident died after being assaulted by another resident: In an entirely unrelated incident, a 91-year-old grandfather also died last week after he was assaulted by his roommate at a Westfield nursing home, according to News12.

The South Plainfield incident happened last Monday, Jan. 16 at the AristaCare at Cedar Oaks nursing home in that town: Police were called to the facility at 3 p.m. that day for a male patient who was being combative.

The male patient, identified in a police report as Angel Bermontiz, 81, assaulted Clara Sutkowski, 91, said police.

Specifically, the elderly woman was walking back to her room from the entertainment room that afternoon when Bermontiz grabbed her in the hallway and punched her in the head. He punched her in her right eye socket, said Sutowski’s great-niece, Nicole Kupko, 41.

Both the elderly man and woman have dementia, and this took pace on AristaCare's third floor, which is their memory care/Alzheimer's unit.

Sutkowski was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Medical Center, but doctors told her family they were unable to give her anything to stop the bleeding in her brain and they could only make her comfortable until she passed, said her great-niece. She died at the hospital four days later, on Thursday, Jan. 19.

The Middlesex County Medical Examiner ruled Sutkowski's death a homicide, and the Middlesex County Prosecutor is now investigating. Sutkowski's family has also filed a complaint with AristaCare, and is looking into legal action.

"We feel as a family this kind of death could have been avoided," said Kupko. "We know this man had been aggressive with staff and other patients before. (He had) previous events displaying this type of behavior. And nothing was done about it. He was still free to walk among the other residents."

When this Patch reporter called AristaCare at Cedar Oaks in South Plainfield, a receptionist who picked up said "no comment" and hung up the phone.

However, AristaCare did provide a statement to News 12 and other media, saying they are cooperating fully with the police investigation.

“We regard all our residents as part of our extended family, grieve for the loss of one of our cherished residents and extend our deepest condolences to the family,” the statement read. “We also remain committed to providing our support and full cooperation to the authorities who are presently investigating the circumstances surrounding this event.”

According to the police report, Bermontiz was still being extremely combative when police officers arrived last Monday afternoon. When officers got there, he was being restrained by nursing home staff in his bed, and the older man was yelling and cursing in Spanish. A staff member described him as "crazy and strong," and told the responding officer he had just "knocked out another patient."

"It's about making people aware of the problems in these nursing homes," said Kupko. "In their memory units or dementia units, they have residents who have been violent or displayed violent behavior. And yet they are not kept isolated or kept away from other residents. They are allowed to be among the general population. There are obviously inadequacies in these facilities."

Man, 91, dies at Westfield nursing home after being punched by roommate

In the Westfield nursing home, Herman Walker also died on Thursday, Jan. 19, the same day as Sutkowski. He had been in the hospital for just over two weeks after an altercation with his roommate at the Complete Care Facility in Westfield.

Walker's granddaughter, Naliah Eden, told News12 Complete Care told the family Walker got into a fight with his roommate, 61-year-old Francisco Figueroa, and had a couple of scratches and bruises. But when the family saw him in the emergency room, she said what they saw was "horrific."

She said her grandfather's face was swollen, his eyes were swollen shut and he was bleeding from his head.

That incident is currently under investigation by both Westfield Police and the Union County Prosecutor’s Office.

Related: Man Assaulted In Westfield Nursing Home Dies Two Weeks Later (Jan. 24)