Metro woman with Alzheimer's arrested for domestic violence despite daughter not pressing charges

[tulipsandroses]

RIVERDALE, Ga. — A Clayton County woman with severe Alzheimer’s disease is behind bars after scratching her daughter during a confused episode, even though her daughter didn’t want to press charges.

Pamela Reynolds says she has been fighting to get her mother, Annie Reynolds, out of the Clayton County Jail since Friday after she says her mother was falsely arrested.
“She kept saying she didn’t want to go,” Pamela Reynolds told Channel 2?s Ashli Lincoln.

Police were called to the Reynolds home near Hwy. 138 and Taylor Rd. in Riverdale on Friday afternoon after 69-year-old Annie wandered away from the home and towards a busy intersection.After finding her mother incoherent and irate because of the Alzheimer’s, Pamela Reynolds says her mother scratched her and left marks on her arms.

She says Clayton County police saw those marks and, when paired with her mother’s erratic behavior, decided it was best to remove Annie from the home. “He said it was out of his control. He said the law states, when a person put their hands on you, they have to go to jail,” Pamela Reynolds explained.
https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/clayton-county/metro-woman-with-alzheimers-arrested-domestic-violence-despite-daughter-not-pressing-charges/OCKDCSICSRHH7ATTV6IJGVX5J4/

[elleng]

1. Prosecutors have discretion. Police not so much?

[Phoenix61]

3. Of course he did. nt

[arlyellowdog]

10. Absolutely

[Phoenix61]

2. Except it wasn't domestic violence.

There’s no intent. Just a scared old woman with Alzheimer’s.

[W_HAMILTON]

4. I don't know how you deal with this.

My mother has dementia and she has (unfortunately somewhat frequent) periods where she becomes verbally and physically violent. Some have suggested to just walk away, but in some cases with a dementia patient who honestly has fewer capabilities than a young child at this point, that isn't something that can always easily be done.

People talk about how wrong it is to have your parents go into a nursing home and how that's abandoning them, but I can't imagine that many of those that say that have lived through this. There are points where it is simply too much for one person to handle. And I don't even know how they handle this sort of behavior in a nursing home, but they are professionals and have many more resources they can access as compared to just a single person trying to do what's best for his parent but being unable to do so simply because it all becomes just too much at some point.

[Ilsa]

7. We are facing it now.

The seroquel at night has mitigated her aggression substantially (check with your doctor), but she is in her 80s, and I'm not too far from Medicare myself. We can't watch her. She can't elope, but she can make big messes that could affect our health, or she could fall. I'm exhausted from doing her laundry, cooking special food,

We haven't been able to find a nursing home for her, and can't find one that accepts VA payment. We may have to drop her at a hospital so their social workers can relocate her. Her hospice SW hasn't been able to find a facility.

Anyone that wants to judge us can come take over.

[Srkdqltr]

5. How sad. She needs care, poor woman. The daughter needs help with her.

She doesn't need to be in a jail. In a real country people like that would be taken care of properly. I'm sure the daughter would want mother cared for .

[SharonClark]

6. A person with dementia should be in a care

facility if they can’t be taken care of at home. Certainly not in a jail. Her poor daughter is between a rock and a hard place.

[USALiberal]

8. Put me on the jury! Nt

[Ilsa]

9. Police need to call the Social worker and have her placed

in a facility or arrange for care in the home. And there are drugs that can be given daily, long term, for aggression.

[arlyellowdog]

11. Train the police.

I have a severely autistic son. He’s the sweetest, calmest guy now. But when he was a teenager, wow! We had run ins with the police. Then we became advocates and police in our county are trained on how to deal with situations with disabled people. One think I learned was to alert authorities that a disabled person or a person with dementia lives in the house and could become out of control. It’s good for the police to know what they are walking into.