Home Health Care Nurse Assaulted 83-Year-Old Paraplegic Veteran: Police

CORAM, NY – A home health care nurse assaulted an 83-year-old Korean War veteran after he notified the nurse's employer that she was late for work, police said.

Areatha Pickens, a licensed practical nurse, was caring for the veteran, who became paraplegic in a 1975 car crash, on June 22 when she assaulted him at his Coram home, police said.

Pickens punched the man, who was confined to a stretcher, several times after the man notified Pickens's employer that she was late for work.

The man was treated at Stony Brook University Hospital for a fractured orbital bone.

Pickens, of Coram, was arrested Friday morning. She is charged with second degree assault, a felony.