Indictment: Women incited fight at assisted living facility

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Three North Carolina women were indicted after authorities said they incited two female residents at an assisted living facility to fight each other and one of the three women filmed it.

A grand jury on Monday indicted Tonacia Yvonne Tyson, 21, and Taneshia Deshawn Jordan, 27, each on one count of misdemeanor assaulting an individual with a disability, the Winston-Salem Journal reported Wednesday. Officials say Marilyn Latish McKey, 33, was indicted on two counts of assaulting an individual with a disability. All three women are from Winston-Salem.

Authorities say the incident occurred June 19, 2019, at the Danby House. Winston-Salem police and the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services investigated the incident. A search warrant said an employee at the facility called police two days later.

Affinity Living Group, the company that operates Danby House, released a statement last year, saying it had zero-tolerance for the mistreatment of residents and that Tyson, Jordan and McKey were immediately fired.

The female residents involved in the fight were in their 70s and told Winston-Salem police they were not injured. According to documents from Health and Human Services, the women were in a special care unit at Danby House because they have dementia.

The documents say the women, identified as Resident 8 and Resident 9, were fighting in one of their rooms as Tyson, Jordan and McKey watched. Jordan told police she filmed the altercation and encouraged one of the women fighting to punch the other woman in the face, according to a search warrant.

During the fight, the women fell on the bed in Resident 8’s room, and Resident 9 hit Resident 8 and at one point, began choking her, documents said. Resident 8 is heard yelling, “let go, help me, help me, let go,” according to the documents. One staff member is heard telling Resident 9 to “punch her in the face,” the documents said.

A third resident, identified as a 78-year-old female resident, is seen lying in the floor, and at least two staff members are shown in the video walking past her and not helping her. Winston-Salem police later determined that the woman was not involved in the fight.