Woodward Resource Center workers charged in violent patient assault
A nationwide arrest warrant has been issued for a former Woodward Resource Center employee for allegedly giving a patient what the local police chief described as “a 15 minute a– kicking” in August.
The Woodward Police Department filed charges against four employees of the state-run facility that provides care to Iowans with severe disabilities in Dallas County. Police reviewed security video of contract employee Mercedes Denise Wilson allegedly abusing a patient and three employees who allegedly ignored the act, Woodward Police Chief Jim Graham said.
“This resident was doing absolutely nothing other than sleeping in a chair,” Graham said. “She grabbed him out of the chair, with enough force to rip his shirt, threw him to the floor and began an assault on him. It lasted a full 15 minutes.”
Police believe Wilson, who was charged with assault of a dependent adult causing injury, may have fled back to her home state of Louisiana. The three other employees were charged with failure to provide assistance to a dependent adult and were arrested.
The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the Woodward Resource Center, told KCCI in a statement the employees no longer work there. “Iowa HHS takes the safety of our staff and clients very seriously, including reporting and conducting internal investigations into any reported incidents,” the statement said.
Graham described the Aug. 21 assault as violent and sustained, based on the video evidence.
At one point Wilson flipped the chair on top of the patient when he tried to get up, Graham said. Wilson then sat on top of the chair, pinning the patient underneath it, he said.
The 21-year-old patient was described in a Department of Inspection and Appeals investigation and report filed after the incident as having intellectual disabilities that could lead to aggression, self-harm or outbursts.
But Graham said nothing prompted the alleged assault.
“It was completely out of the blue,” Graham said. “It’s not like he was trying to assault her and she was defending herself — I mean, this was completely unwarranted.”
There were two other patient care technicians in the same room when the assault happened but they allegedly made no effort to stop the attack, Graham said. A third resident treatment worker walked through the room but also ignored the attack, he said.
The only reason the assault stopped was because another employee walked into the room to confront Wilson. That employee reported the assault to the hospital’s administration, which conducted an internal investigation and forwarded the results to the Woodward Police Department in September.
The patient was not hospitalized for his injuries, Graham said.
“It was a completely unwarranted a– kicking, that’s exactly what it was,” he said. “And these people got what they deserved, which were warrants for their arrests.”
The Department of Inspection and Appeals report found the facility failed to ensure staff immediately reported all allegations of abuse, neglect, or mistreatment. The report says all staff at Woodward Resource Center were re-trained on how to handle allegations of abuse as mandatory reporters.
José Mendiola is a breaking news reporter for the Register. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him on X @mendiola_news.
This story was updated to add a video.
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