Caught
On Tape: Caretakers Of Mentally Disabled
David Goldstein
Reporting
(CBS) LOS ANGELES Families of
developmentally disabled people trust their loved ones to the expertise of
caretakers. Or should they? Our undercover cameras captured some shocking
behavior from these so-called caretakers…
A man sitting in
the backseat of a car slaps the woman next to him. And again. And again.
They're both developmentally disabled. And the woman in charge apparently does
nothing to stop it. In fact, she may even be condoning it, according to one
expert
At this park in
Carson, caretakers are seen just about everyday with the developmentally
disabled. They take them here -- mostly from group homes for an outing in the
park.
Our undercover
camera caught this developmentally disabled man getting out of the car.
The woman in charge,
Adel, works for Westview Services, a non-profit agency that takes care of the
disabled.
But when she
tries to get the other person out -- that woman apparently refuses. Adel then
grabs the man by the arm and gestures for him to go back in the car. It's then
that he slaps the woman. Not once. But twice.
"Ooohhh,"
says Theresa Cooper as she watches the videotape. "Oh my gosh."
"It's
horrible. I can't say it any more forcefully than that. It's horrible. It makes
me want to cry, actually."
Cooper's brother
is developmentally disabled. She's the executive director of Loving Your
Disabled Child.
The care
provider directed the man to beat on her. Is it clear?
"Absolutely,
it's definitely clear," Cooper says.
But it doesn't
end there. Adel tries to talk with the woman but she still won't get out. The
man gets out of the car again. But Adel points to the backseat--gesturing for
him to go back. And this time with Adel watching from the front seat -- he
slaps the woman again and again!
This time she
does get out of the car and all three make their way to the park.
A few days
later I caught up with Adel.
"I'm with
channel 2 news. You asked him to do it?"
"No,"
Adel says.
She denied
directing the abuse. She said the man is John and the woman Lupe -- and she
claimed she tried to stop it.
"You're
sitting in the front seat. What does john do?" we ask her. "He hits
lupe.
And you're
sitting right there. Why don't you stop it?"
"I asked
John. I stopped it," Adel says.
"Why don't
do you stop it?"
"I
did."
"No you
didn't. You didn't."
On another day
we watched Adel nudging Lupe with her knee again and again.
Experts say
this situation is not unusual. Developmentally disabled people are abused four
times more often than others.
"We
believe this is a public health priority," attorney Pamila Lew says.
Lew is an
attorney with Protection And Advocacy -- a group that fights for the rights of
the developmentally disabled.
"We found
that often when there is abuse and it had been investigated."
But for people
like Theresa Cooper -- it hurts every time.
"Oh yes,
absolutely. It makes me angry because if I would have seen it I would have
stopped it. I would have done something about it."
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MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)