TEXAS CITY, Texas — Two women have been arrested and charged after a Texas City nursing home resident was seen on video being hit, kicked and dragged.
Texas City Police launched an investigation after video of the 87-year-old man surfaced. They said Lisa Jo Cooper, 61, and Kecia Danielle Johnson, 57, turned themselves in Thursday night and were charged with abuse of the elderly. Their bonds are set at $100,000 each.
We're not showing the workers faces because Texas City Police have not yet confirmed the employees in the video are in fact the two women charged.
Solidago Health and Rehabilitation said two women have been fired for "violating the company's policies" following an internal investigation.
Lizandro Solis said his grandfather, Cornelio Salinas, has been telling his family about the abuse at the nursing home for years.
The family never had proof until Sunday when a surveillance camera caught two employees hitting and kicking Salinas who was on the floor. They were then seen dragging him back to his bed before one of the employees closed the curtain, hiding everything that happened after that.
We got a phone call that our grandpa was going to the hospital because he supposedly fell out the bed," Solis said. “We saw the bruising around his eyes and he was in a neck brace so we went back on the ring camera, and we saw what happened."
Solis said they installed a camera outside Salinas' room about a year or two ago. They cried after watching the video.
"We were angry. We wanted to go do something, but what can you do?" Solis said.
The family wants the facility to be shut down.
“We don’t even know how long that has been happening, or if anybody else is going through it," Solis said.
As of Monday, Salinas was still in the hospital. His family said they are working on finding him a new home.
The Texas Department of Health and Human Services is also investigating. They released the following statement:
"HHSC is aware of the allegations involving this nursing facility and we are actively investigating to determine compliance with all relevant health and safety rules. Once our regulatory investigation work is complete, the final report for the investigation will be available to request through our open records process."