Marine veteran hit with broom, assaulted at New York state veterans' home, wife alleges

A Westchester County woman alleges that video shows her husband being abused by his caretaker at a New York state veterans' home.

That caretaker is now facing charges.

Banners reading "Honoring Our Heroes" hang proudly outside the New York State Veterans Home at Montrose, but Angela Sangro said video from the inside shows that was far from the truth for her husband, Albert O'Toole, a 60-year-old Gulf War Marine veteran who has Alzheimer's.

Sangro said she noticed mysterious marks on O'Toole, and he was repeatedly sent for psychiatric evaluations.

"I didn't want to turn my eye on all the bumps and the bruises and the cuts, and so I had asked a few times and they would say, 'Oh, well, when he gets in his mood, he rips things off the wall,'" she said.

Sangro said she was suspicious of the explanation, so she placed a hidden camera in O'Toole's room on March 1.

"I couldn't believe what I saw," Sangro said.

According to Sangrio, the video appears to show Matthew Cox, O'Toole's then-attendant, striking the 60-year-old with a broom, punching him and grabbing him by the neck.

"Now, he's confined to a wheelchair, a hallway. He can't talk anymore. He's not been integrated with people in a very long time," Sangro said, adding her husband is a social person.

Attendant arrested, still on payroll

Based on the video, the Westchester County District Attorney's Office arrested and charged Cox with a felony for endangering the welfare of a physically disabled person.

The state Department of Health, which oversees the New York State Veterans Home at Montrose, said Cox was terminated, but he's still on payroll with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which has a facility on the same campus.

The state Department of Health told CBS News New York in a statement:

"Maintaining a safe environment for the residents and workers at this facility is our top priority. As soon as we became aware of this incident, the staff member was immediately put on leave, terminated after a review of the incident, and is facing criminal charges."

Following the incident, the Department of Health said the facility reviewed all care plans for patients, including those served by Cox.

The U.S. Secretary for Veterans Affairs posted on X that the department will "immediately initiate removal proceedings for this employee."  

Cox is due back in court in July. CBS News New York asked his attorney for comment and did not hear back.  

Wife thinks more may be responsible

Sangro, however, doesn't think Cox is the only person responsible for the alleged abuse.

"I don't believe he worked alone, definitely," she said. "There was, I mean, you hear my husband screaming in the video. Nobody comes in and checks on him, and the door was open."

She said her husband has since been sent to the VA in the Bronx, then back to the state facility in Montrose. She wants him put into the federal facility on the Montrose campus, but said she's not allowed to move him, partially because Cox is technically still employed there.

"I'm really worried about what will happen to him, and that's why my focus is to get him out of there as soon as possible," Sangro said.