Atlanta rapper T.I. is demanding accountability after an Ohio nursing home resident suffered a bruised and swollen eye in what the nursing home reportedly said was a fall.
Police have said they are trying to determine how 70-year-old Sue Washington sustained an injury to the face at Lima Rehab and Nursing Center in the 500 block of South Shawnee St. in Lima, Ohio.
The incident, reported to authorities last Wednesday, went viral when T.I. posted a video on Instagram of Washington.
It has since been viewed more than 1.9 million times.
In the video, Washington, who is called “grandma Sue” on social media, shows her bruised face.
“And all of this came from falling out of a chair,” she said. “That was bull—-. I’m sorry.”
T.I. tagged activist Tamika Mallory and several other public figures in the Instagram post’s caption.
He says in the caption:
“We ain’t Goin fa this s—!!!
We Demand Answers,Evidence&Accountability….
Expeditiously!!!!”
Mallory, co-founder of the 2017 Women’s March in Washington, D.C., traveled to Ohio to visit Washington at a Lima hospital, according to her Instagram posts.
“This image is so painful,” she wrote. “I think about my own grandmothers, and I feel compelled to stand with Ms. Susan and her family. Our children and our elders need protection.”
Family members trying to find out more about the circumstances surrounding Washington’s injuries told Lima News newspaper that nursing home officials rebuffed them.
So the family retained the services of human rights attorney Ben Crump, who was in Lima for a press conference and rally on Wednesday, according to the newspaper.
Crump is best known for his work representing the families of Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown Jr. and Tamir Rice, who were all young Black males shot and killed while unarmed.
“Today there are 3 million people across America asking, ‘What happened to Grandma Sue?’” Crump said at the rally. “And we are here to get answers.”
Crump told the Lima News that Washington had a history of falls while at the nursing center, saying, “We believe that the fact she had been diagnosed with dementia should have placed [nursing home officials] on notice that she did not have full control of her faculties. It’s just fortunate that Susan Washington did not suffer fatal injuries when she fell.”
No one answered the facility’s phone number when Atlanta Black Star called Thursday.
Lima police have said on Twitter that they are “thoroughly” investigating the incident.
“We appreciate the concern throughout our community & others,” police said.
Mallory thanked T.I. by name in an Instagram video with Crump and the Washington family.
“Thank you so much for bringing our attention to this, and we’re just glad to be in this struggle with you, brother,” Mallory said.
“We know that you really really took personal what you saw with Grandma Sue,” Mallory said.
