A New York nursing home worker has been fired from his job and charged by the state attorney general after he allegedly assaulted a disabled patient, pushing him against a wall and punching him in the neck inside the facility, authorities say.
Lenox Seymour, 46, a former licensed practical nurse at the Split Rock Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in the Bronx, was captured on surveillance video assaulting the 55-year-old patient inside the dining room the night of Feb. 12, 2012, according to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
"I'm stunned," said Split Rock employee Gary Huggins, who has been a nurse for 30 years. "Any time I hear any cases of abuse, whether it's with a patient or vice-versa, it's always a bad situation."
The video shows Seymour following the disabled man into the dining room, pushing him against a wall and punching him in the neck, said Schneiderman. The two men struggle, falling to the floor, before Seymour gets up and walks away, leaving the injured resident behind.
The victim suffered injuries to his neck and buttocks.
Seymour then lied about the incident in a report to the nursing home, claiming the patient punched and kicked him after Seymour took away his carton of milk.
Nurses at Split Rock who knew Seymour said he didn't seem to be abusive. They said he was good with patients and never saw him get frustrated.
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Huggins said abuse is unacceptable under any circumstance.
"You try to do the best that you can but you have to love this profession," he said. "If you don't love what you do, there's always, at the end of the road, going to be some kind of problems."
Seymour faces felony charges of endangerment and falsifying records. He could be sentenced up to one and a third to four years in prison if convicted.
