I-Team: Nursing Home Employee Arrested In Connection With Patient's Head Injuries
KAUFMAN (CBS 11 NEWS) - Kaufman police tell the CBS-11 I-Team they made an arrest Tuesday night in connection with a nursing home patient's head injuries.
Police chief Chris Aulbaugh tells CBS-11 they took James Seaton, an employee at the Kaufman Healthcare Center in Kaufman, into custody on a felony charge of aggravated assault - injury to elderly.
Aulbaugh says 88-year-old Sammie Berry was injured while Seaton was tending to her.
The chief says Seaton tried to conceal what happened and tried to blame someone else.
Seaton is in the Kaufman County jail.
Source: Kaufman County Sheriff's Office
Relatives say they are relieved.
MORE: Kaufman Nursing Home Where Patient Injured Cited In Past By State
MORE: Kaufman Police Investigating Nursing Home Patient's Head Injuries
Bobby Berry says it's still difficult to look at his grandmother.
The wheelchair bound 88-year-old, who has Alzheimer's, has a gash on her forehead and much of her face turned black and blue.
She's now at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Kaufman.
On Tuesday, the nursing home issued a statement saying they were helping police reach a conclusion.
An attorney for the facility, Richard Agnew, said, "Safety and the well-being of our residents are our paramount focus."
The CBS-11 I-Team has learned the nursing home has been cited in the past by the Texas Department of Aging & Disability Services:
In April, 2011, the agency found the facility provided sub-standard quality of care, and the nursing home paid a $2,405 civil penalty.
In February, 2012, the state also found the facility had sub-standard quality of care.
The nursing home paid a $6,500 civil penalty, and the agency wouldn't pay the facility for new admissions for most of April of last year.
And in March of last year, the department substantiated a complaint of verbal, mental abuse against a patient, but didn't cite the nursing home because an employee was found at fault -- the facility's procedures and protocols were in compliance.
As for her family's ordeal, Jessica Berry, the woman's great grand-daughter says, "I'm still in shock about everything. It's like a nightmare that I can't wake up from."
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