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Nia Ayers (St. Cloud Police Department)
A home health nurse in Florida is facing accusations of mistreating the teen she was assigned to care for, following allegations captured on video of her nearly suffocating the patient.
The St. Cloud Police Department reported on Thursday that 24-year-old Nia Ayers has been charged with aggravated abuse of a disabled or elderly person. Law&Crime reviewed the arrest warrant, which identifies the 18-year-old victim as being “developmentally disabled, non-verbal, and unable to care for herself.” Additionally, the teen is quadriplegic and has cerebral palsy. As stated in the warrant, she relies entirely on caregivers for every aspect of daily life and survival, necessitating constant care.
Ayers was not a stranger to her alleged victim; according to the warrant, she had been taking care of the teen on Fridays for about a year.
On May 3, the victim’s mother noticed “red scratches” on her daughter’s “mouth area and eyelid.” Upon checking the security footage from Ayers’ shift, she “witnessed multiple occasions where Ayers acted aggressively and abusively towards her daughter during that evening’s care.”
The mother called police and shared the footage, which one officer recounted in the warrant.
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“I observed Ayers place tape on [the victim’s] mouth and then very aggressively hold a wash cloth tight to [the victim’s] mouth,” the warrant said. “I observed Ayers then aggressively rip the tape off [the victim’s] mouth.” According to the mother, the tape was only meant to be used to keep the victim’s eyes closed when she sleeps, but was never to be used on her mouth.
The alleged abuse worsened, the warrant says, with Ayers reportedly adjusting her patient’s body by “yanking her left arm very aggressively.” She is also seen holding a washcloth over the girl’s mouth, “appearing to be hindering [the victim’s] breathing,” the warrant said. This apparently happened at least twice, and both times, the victim was seen trying to move away from Ayers and was clearly in distress.
Ayers was also allegedly seen “shaking” the patient’s breathing machine while the device was connected to her, police said, including “with such force that [the victim’s] nose begins to bleed.” Other instances of abuse allegedly included aggressively rubbing the victim’s face with a towel and pinching the area around her mouth.
St. Cloud officials said the accused nurse turned herself in to the police late Wednesday night.
“The victim in this case is completely unable to defend herself or cry out for help,” Chief Douglas Goerke said in the statement. “This is a truly heinous act, and we are concerned there may be other victims.”
