The woman — shown on grainy, silent, black-and-white video captured by a camera her son had hidden — is trying to get out of her wheelchair.
The other woman in the room, an employee of Loganville’s Personal Touch Personal Care Home, gets frustrated. She grabs the disabled woman by the nape of the neck and pulls her forward, then back – then lets her drop to the floor.
She screams something in the woman’s face, turns toward the door for a few moments, and leaves.
The disabled woman sobs on the floor.
Compared to others, the scene was relatively tame, Gwinnett County police say. The caretaker, identified as 44-year-old Lisa Gillian Williams, is also accused of hitting the woman in the head, kicking her legs and “strangling her with her own shirt.” Another time, the woman’s son found her lying on the floor “with her clothes soiled from defecation.”
Williams was arrested Wednesday and charged with aggravated assault and two counts of exploitation of a disabled adult – all felonies.
“We are disgusted and saddened that people who are tasked with caring for some of the most vulnerable people in our society would use that as an opportunity to do intentional harm to them,” Gwinnett police spokesman Cpl. Deon Washington said.
Williams' arrest comes just a few months after Gwinnett authorities cracked down on a ring of 12 unlicensed care homes in the Snellville and Loganville areas, indicting nine people while accusing them of failing to make sure residents took medications and preventing some from having access to food.
Personal Touch, the Granite Falls Lane care home Williams worked for, is licensed to care for six residents and not believed to have any connection to those shut down in December.
It was, however, cited in March 2015. Violations were mostly administrative but included a failure to provide “assistance with the self-administration of medication.” Attempts to reach Personal Touch were unsuccessful Friday afternoon.
According to a police incident report, Williams began working at the home about three weeks ago, but her exact role at the home was unclear. There are several women with the same name licensed through the Secretary of State’s Office, but none with addresses that match the Lithonia home listed on Williams’ jail information.
The alleged victim began complaining to her son four days after Williams started working at Personal Touch.
The son had “previously set up a camera in his mother’s room,” the police report said, “so he retrieved some of the video footage and discovered [Williams] verbally and physically abusing his mother.” He confronted Williams.
“But she said it was all lies and his mom was old and senile,” the report said.
Washington, the police spokesman, said detectives are still reviewing the surveillance video to see if additional charges will be filed. They’re also working to determine if any other residents at the home were “treated in the same manner.”
Anyone with information in the case is asked to contact the Gwinnett County police Special Victims Unit at 770-513-5300. Tipsters can also remain anonymous – and be eligible for rewards up to $2,000 – by contacting Crime Stoppers at 404-577-TIPS or crimestoppersatlanta.org.
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