Elderly Michigan Care Home Patient Brutally Beaten By Younger Man, Incident Draws Trump’s Attention

A 75-year-old patient in Westwood Nursing Center in Detroit, Michigan, was subjected to a brutal beating by a younger man who allegedly recorded the incident on his phone camera.

The video surfaced on the internet Thursday (May 21), spurring President Donald Trump to post his reaction to the incident on Twitter. “Is this even possible to believe? Can this be real?” Trump wrote. “Where is this nursing home, how is the victim doing?”

Detroit police said the incident happened on May 15, adding that the 20-year-old suspect has been also undergoing treatment at the same hospital. Police wouldn’t reveal his ailment and the alleged motive behind violently beating the senior citizen, WXYZ reported.

People alerted police to the video after coming across it on the internet. Ann Arbor police, Detroit police, and several other departments worked jointly to track down the suspect at the hospital in the 16500 block of Schaefer on the west side of the city Thursday. The suspect was arrested and the incident remains under investigation. The elderly man reportedly was rushed with non-life threatening injuries to another hospital, whose name was unspecified.

It appeared that the suspect set up his phone camera to document himself relentlessly punching the elderly man in the face, over dozens of times, both while he was lying on the bed and seating. The violent attack left the victim with a bloody wound on his forehead.

The Detroit police department thanked the public in a tweet for their efforts. "Thank you to everyone for your assistance in bringing the senior home incident to our attention," the tweet read. "The @detroitpolice is investigating the situation and an arrest has been made. Thank you again."

The nursing home told police Thursday that they hadn't seen the otherwise widely shared video, WDIV-TV reported. Detroit Police Chief James Craig said later that afternoon in a press conference that they were investigating whether the hospital was aware of the assault.

The law firm representing the facility issued a statement saying the suspect wasn’t a long-term resident there but came for temporary rehabilitation treatment.

“Westwood has been cooperating with the police and will continue to do so,” WDIV-TV reported. “The safety, health, and well-being of our residents remain a top priority of Westwood. We will continue to monitor the situation.”

Detroit police believed the incident happened when the nursing homes were in lockdown over the COVID-19 concerns, Fox 2reported. The suspect was being held at the Detroit Detention Center.