Nursing home patient dies months after being beaten by 20-y-o man with COVID-19
A 75-year-old man seen on video being brutally beaten by a 20-year-old coronavirus patient who he was sharing a room with inside a Detroit nursing home earlier this year has died.
FOX-2 Detroit reports that Norman Bledsoe, an Army veteran and patient at Westwood Nursing Center Detroit’s west side, died Monday morning, nearly three months after he was allegedly assaulted by Jaden Hayden of Ypsilanti.
Bledsoe’s nephew, Kevin Bledsoe, told reporters his uncle had been depressed and was not eating properly since the May beating.
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"His eating habits went downhill after [the alleged assault], and he lost quite a bit of weight," Kevin Bledsoe said, according to The Detroit News.
Because of COVID-19 regulations, Kevin Bledsoe said visitors were kept away from the nursing home where his uncle was staying until last week.
"We finally were able to see him last week," he said. "He wasn't doing very good. I guess there just wasn't anything else they could do for him."
Bledsoe, a care home patient, was attacked inside his room, according to a 90-second video posted on social media.
In the video, a man is seen punching Bledsoe numerous times and swearing at him before using a bedsheet to wipe blood off his face. The assailant broke Bledsoe's ribs, jaw, and four of his fingers.
Hayden allegedly filmed the attack on his cellphone and posted it on social media.
He was arrested six days after the incident, according to the Wayne County prosecutor’s office. He faces charges of assault with intent to do great bodily harm, theft, and two counts of credit card theft in connection with the alleged beating.
The defendant is awaiting a July 30 hearing to determine if he's mentally competent to stand trial, Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Maria Miller said Monday.
Police were first alerted to the attack by a woman who saw the video circulating online. In May, Prosecutor Kym Worthy called the actions of the defendant “truly and uniquely disturbing.”
According to Fox2 in Detroit, the 20-year-old Hayden was taken to a mental health facility in Ann Arbor after he reportedly complained that he was unable to sleep, was feeling anxious and hearing voices.
After being diagnosed as having COVID-19, he was moved to Westwood Nursing Center in early May.
A man claiming to be Hayden’s father, who asked not to be identified, told the news outlet he's praying for Bledsoe and explained that his son has autism and several health issues.
“I just don’t want people to think that he’s this vicious individual. He’s got mental issues,” the father was quoted as saying.
“It should’ve never happened because he should’ve never been put in that environment,” he added. “Had I known he was there I would’ve never have consented to it.”
The father admitted that his son's actions were “wrong” and offered his apologies to the victim’s family. “
The Detroit News reports that police also investigated other videos Hayden posted on his YouTube channel that they said appear to show him assaulting other people.
The father had previously revealed that there is a pending case in Washtenaw County in which his son is alleged to have assaulted a staff member at a group home.
On May 21, President Donald Trump condemned the nursing home attack, tweeting: "Is this even possible to believe? Can this be for real? Where is this nursing home, how is the victim doing?”
