Home Health Aide Held Her Employer And His Family Hostage: NCPD

A home health aide was arrested Sunday after police say she held her sick client, his wife and her elderly parents hostage inside their own home in Oceanside.

According to police, Cathy Thompson, 28, of Jamaica, went to the home of the 64-year-old man she cared for at 9:50 a.m. She rang the doorbell multiple times, and his 68-year-old wife answered and saw Thompson holding a large kitchen knife, police said. Thompson entered the house, and the wife ran to a neighbor's home to call police. After calling police, the wife returned to the house to make sure her husband, her 98-year-old mother and her 94-year-old father were safe.

Inside the home, police say that Thompson waved the knife at the residents, locked the front door and told them they weren't allowed to leave. The man she cared for began to have difficulty breathing, police say, and Thompson began to question his medical condition.

Police arrived on the scene and were able to arrest Thompson without incident. She is charged with four counts of unlawful imprisonment, four counts of second-degree menacing, endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. She will be arraigned when medically practical.