Three employees at the Psychiatric Institute of Washington in Washington, D.C., face criminal negligence charges in the 2020 death of a 58-year-old patient. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said video showed staff fist-bumping and chatting for minutes while the man struggled to breathe on a mattress. The workers were arraigned this week and released pending trial.
Nelson Kuma, 37, Richard Hounnou, 45, and registered nurse Norma Munoz-Bent, 68, worked at the Psychiatric Institute of Washington on April 24, 2020, when patient G.W. suffered an emergency and required resuscitation. Placed on one-to-one care with health checks every 15 minutes, G.W. showed labored breathing two days later at 12:38 p.m. while lying unclothed on a mattress on the floor, according to video evidence cited by Pirro during a news conference streamed by WUSA.