Ghastly Video of a Young Man Savagely Beating an Elderly Nursing Home Patient Reminds Us What True Evil Looks Like

I can think of few things more terrifying than placing the life of someone you love most into the hands of those you don’t at all know.

But that’s what many must do, when they come to believe their elderly parent needs care they cannot themselves provide.

And if you’re one whose mother or father is entrusted to a facility, how do you know they’re being well treated, by the staff and the other patients? The questions become infinitely more difficult if — as is the case for scores of the aged in nursing homes across America — your parent suffers from cognitive decline.

What if someone is abusing your loved one?

Such appears to have been the case for an elderly man at a nursing home in Detroit, as displayed in an absolutely horrific video recently posted online.

As per media coverage, the attacker was himself a resident.

I offer the video below, but beware the language and — more importantly — the terrible violence:

https://twitter.com/RealJamesWoods/status/1263565728386387968

Always looking for stories to cover, I’ve watched a lot of viral videos of various incendiary acts. But I must say, this is one of the worst things I’ve ever seen.

The one-and-a-half-minute clip shows a young man brutally punching the head and face of a helpless elderly man on what looks to be a hospital bed.

That anyone could do such to another person is ghastly. Humanity is soiled with the callousness of monsters.

There are presently few details available, but The Detroit News reports that Thursday, law enforcement took into custody a 20-year-old man “in connection to the assault and battery of an elderly male at a nursing home on Detroit’s west side.”

An investigation is ongoing into the abuse which took place at the Westwood Nursing Center.

In a press conference, Detroit Police Chief James Craig explained that the center wasn’t aware of the incident prior to seeing the video.

From TDN:

A video had been posted on social media and shared several times by concerned citizens of an incident that allegedly occurred on May 15. Police said both the 75-year-old male victim and the suspect are patients at the nursing home located in the 16500 block of Schaefer.

The victim was taken to a local hospital where he was treated for his non-life threatening injuries, police said.

The suspect was arrested at the nursing home and taken to the Detroit Detention Center. Both the Washtenaw County Sheriffs Office and the Ann Arbor Police Department assisted.

Thank you to everyone for your assistance in bringing the senior home incident to our attention. The @detroitpolice is investigating the situation, and an arrest has been made. Thank you again. #ProtectAndServe #OurCommunity

— Detroit Police Dept. (@detroitpolice) May 21, 2020

WDIV notes that the man responsible for the beating was not a permanent resident:

The law firm representing the nursing home sent a statement in response to the incident late Thursday saying the attacker was not a long term resident, but had been admitted for rehabilitation and recovery on a temporary basis.

I believe I speak for all of you in saying I hope anyone capable of carrying out such cruelty sees justice.

It seems to me that evil, at its core, is the hurting of the helpless; the defiling of the innocent; the subjugation of those who are without defense. The word is tossed around a lot these days, not least of all in the realm of politics. But if you want to see it in a terribly pure form, look no further than the moving images above.