Attorneys: Charges expected in Florida nursing home deaths

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Attorneys: Charges expected in Florida nursing home deaths

2019-08-26 06:46 Last Updated At：06:50

Defense attorneys said Sunday that arrests are expected shortly in the case of a Florida nursing home where 12 elderly patients died after the complex lost power and was engulfed by sweltering heat when powerful Hurricane Irma struck in 2017.

Lawrence Hashish told The Associated Press his client is one of three nurses, in addition to an administrator, expecting to be charged in connection with the deaths after Hurricane Irma, which blew through Florida on Sept. 10 of that year. The storm knocked out a transformer connecting the main air-conditioning unit to the power grid at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, sending temperatures soaring .

Hashish said the attorneys don't yet know what the specific charges would be, but he expected it would likely be some form of manslaughter.

Twelve deaths at the center had been ruled homicides . Police have been investigating the deaths for nearly two years but no charges have been filed. A voice message and email left by the AP for Hollywood Police were not immediately returned Sunday.

Hashish said his client and the others are merely scapegoats.

"The real crime is that the state is looking to blame selfless caregivers and the evidence will show that no crime was committed," he said in a phone interview,

His co-counsel, Ilham Soffan, told the AP that their client was turning herself in Monday. The attorneys said they didn't have any further details about the charges and planned to negotiatiate a bond agreement before an expected hearing Monday morning.

Patients began dying at the rehabilitation center days after the devastating hurricane struck Florida amid widespread power outages. Investigators said the center did not evacuate patients as temperatures inside began rising, even though a fully functional hospital was across the street. The home's license was suspended days after the storm and it was later shuttered.

Paramedic Craig Wohlitka and other paramedics from Hollywood Fire-Rescue testified last year that he was haunted by the deaths of patients there. Fire Lt. Amy Parrinello said one of the female victims had a temperature of 107.5 degrees (42 Celsius), the highest she had ever seen in his 12-year career. Later that morning, she said, another patient topped that with a temperature that was so high it couldn't be measured.

Wohlitka said the crew decided to start checking other patients who hadn't been reported as ill. He said they saw a woman in a room who appeared sick, but a home employee said they had just checked her and she was fine.

In the aftermath of Irma, the deaths made national headlines and sparked political backlash. Months after the deaths, lawmakers passed a bill requiring backup power sources in Florida nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The legislation required the facilities to have a generator capable of keeping nursing homes and assisted living facilities at 81 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius) or lower for at least four days.

Hashish declined to give his client's name, but said she was works as a full-time nurse at another facility and was just picking up a shift that day.

"They called her. They said, 'can you come and help? We're short-handed,' and look what she walked into," he said.

Severe storms batter the Midwest, including tornadoes that shredded a FedEx facility

2024-05-08 20:13 Last Updated At：20:21

DETROIT (AP) — Severe storms barreled through the Midwest early Wednesday, a day after two tornadoes struck one Michigan city and destroyed homes and commercial buildings, including a FedEx facility.

The tornadoes were first spotted after dark Tuesday in parts of Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, while portions of Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri were also under a tornado watch, according to the National Weather Service. The storms came a day after a deadly twister ripped through an Oklahoma town.

As the storms raged on in the pre-dawn hours Wednesday, the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh warned that a tornado in northeastern Ohio could cross into Pennsylvania. Parts of West Virginia were also under a tornado warning.

Hancock County Schools in West Virginia closed schools Wednesday because of “extensive overnight weather issues” in the county. News outlets reported damaged buildings and power outages.

Hours earlier in southwestern Michigan, two tornadoes blitzed the city of Portage near Kalamazoo on Tuesday night, destroying homes and commercial buildings, including a FedEx facility that was ripped apart.

No serious injuries were immediately reported, but city officials said in a news release that the twisters knocked out power to more than 20,000 people. Most of them would be without power until late Wednesday, city officials said.

At one point, about 50 people were trapped inside the FedEx facility because of downed power lines. But company spokesperson Shannon Davis said late Tuesday that “all team members are safe and accounted for.”

More than 30,000 customers were without power in Michigan early Wednesday, and an additional 10,000 in Ohio, according to PowerOutage.us.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency for four counties.

“My heart goes out to all those impacted by tonight’s severe weather in southwest Michigan,” Whitmer said in a message on social media. “State and local emergency teams are on the ground and working together to assist Michiganders.”

Tuesday's storms came a day after parts of the central United States were battered by heavy rain, strong winds, hail and twisters. Both the Plains and Midwest have been hammered by tornadoes this spring.

Across the U.S., the entire week is looking stormy. The Midwest and the South are expected to get the brunt of the bad weather through the rest of the week, including in Indianapolis, Memphis, Nashville, St. Louis and Cincinnati — cities where more than 21 million people live. It should be clear over the weekend.

On Monday night, a deadly twister in Oklahoma tore through the 1,000-person town of Barnsdall. At least one person was killed and another was missing. Dozens of homes were destroyed.

Aerial videos showed homes reduced to piles of rubble and others with roofs torn off. The twister tossed vehicles, downed power lines and stripped limbs and bark from trees across the town. A 160-acre (65-hectare) wax manufacturing facility in the community also sustained heavy damage.

It was the second tornado to hit Barnsdall in five weeks — a twister on April 1 with maximum wind speeds of 90 to 100 mph (145 to 161 kph) damaged homes and blew down trees and power poles.

At the Hampton Inn in nearby Bartlesville, several splintered two-by-fours were driven into the building. Chunks of insulation, twisted metal and other debris were scattered over the lawn, and vehicles in the parking lot were heavily damaged, with blown-out windows.

Hotel guest Matthew Macedo said he was ushered into a laundry room to wait out the storm.

“When the impact occurred, it was incredibly sudden,” he said.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, who toured the twister's damage Tuesday, said it was rated by weather researchers as a violent tornado with winds reaching up to 200 mph (322 kph). Stitt said he and legislative leaders have agreed to set aside $45 million in this year’s budget to help storm-damaged communities.

Areas in Oklahoma, including Sulphur and Holdenville, are still recovering from a tornado that killed four and left thousands without power late last month.

Murphy reported from Oklahoma City. Associated Press journalists around the country contributed to this report, including Rio Yamat, Heather Hollingsworth, Colleen Slevin, Jim Salter, Kathy McCormack, Sarah Brumfield and Beatrice Dupuy.

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