Detroit, MI
Former Detroit hospital employee sues after raising concerns about two rapes of psychiatric patients
(CBS DETROIT) – A former employee of DMC’s Detroit Receiving Hospital is suing the hospital, claiming she was wrongfully terminated after raising concerns following two rapes of psychiatric patients.
The Detroit Police Department confirmed it took two reports of sex assaults at the hospital. The first report in April was sent over to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office for charges. Police are still investigating a second case, which happened in June.
The former employee, Lakisha Davis, says both could have been prevented.
In April, Davis says she urged DMC to take action after a psychiatric patient was raped by another patient due to inadequate staffing and poor supervision.
“It’s terrible. With just two nurses and one tech taking care of 22 patients, some of them aggressive, is unsafe,” Davis said.
However, her concerns were allegedly ignored, and just two months later, another patient was raped under similar conditions.
“I was shocked. Like, is this really happening to this patient? Is this real? Are they really going to do something about this?” Davis said.
Davis saw security footage of the second incident and immediately reported it to security and hospital management.
“They didn’t do nothing but fire me and put false allegations on me, saying that I recorded the video and showed it to around the hospital, which is not true,” Davis said.
Her attorney, Azzam Elder, calls that retaliation.
“She went into this profession because she cares. She cares. But if you care, and they see that you care, and you speak up, they cut your head off, and that’s got to stop. It’s got to stop,” Elder said.
Davis is suing the hospital for $10 million for emotional distress, lost wages and damage to her professional reputation.
“They are putting profits over people, profits over patients. They didn’t care about the young, innocent, poor, black young ladies who were raped,” said Reverend WJ Rideout, a community activist.
A spokesperson for DMC provided CBS News Detroit with this statement:
“This baseless lawsuit is an inappropriate attempt by a disgruntled fired employee to personally benefit from an unfortunate situation. Lakisha Davis was terminated for violating HIPAA Privacy Rules designed to protect patients, violation of DMC’s Policies and repeatedly lying about her role in the investigation. In fact, Ms. Davis was already on a final notice and had recent disciplinary action before her termination.
It appears that Ms. Davis’ lies continue following her loss of employment. In her lawsuit, Ms. Davis indicates that she repeatedly raised concerns about this incident, however in the union grievance filed after her termination, she claims that she “never at no time accessed any video and at no time did (she) report any incident…”
The DMC is fully cooperating with regulatory agencies and has taken appropriate actions to ensure patient safety.”
“We’re going to find out what happened, how they did it, how they covered it up, and what happened because this woman deserves a reputation to be restored,” Elder said.
Chickens and geese that went missing from a local nonprofit’s Detroit site were found in the backyard of a nearby home, the director of operations said Wednesday.
The Full Circle Foundation, a Grosse Point Park-based nonprofit, said more than a dozen chickens and geese were believed stolen from a chicken coop on Detroit’s east side that also features the Full Circle Edible Garden.
The nonprofit provides training and job opportunities for young people with special needs.
Neighbors who learned from news reports about the missing flock found the “chickens were being held in the backyard of a vacant home not far from the Full Circle Edible Garden,” said Stephanie DiVirgil, director of operations. She said Ribbon Farm 4-H owns the flock.
“The homeowner was contacted, and she reached out to Full Circle to confirm,” said DiVirgil. “We were able to retrieve all of the chickens and geese that were found on the property, 19 in total.”
The foundation and Ribbon Farms 4-H are working to secure the site, including cameras, fencing and lights.
“We will likely start a fundraising campaign to have these items installed,” DiVirgil said. “We’ve gotten amazing support from the community, including offers to help pay for these additional security measures.”
DETROIT (WXYZ) — Human remains were found in a furnace of an home on Detroit’s west side, the Detroit Police Department tells us.
The remains was found by an individual working on the home in the 5200 block of S Clarendon just after 11 a.m.
Anyone with information can call 313-596-2260 or CrimeStoppers at 1-800-SpeakUp.
Stay with WXYZ.com for updates on this developing story.
The Detroit Police Department is investigating after a 5-year-old child was shot in the arm near a park on Tuesday.
The shooting happened at about 8:50 p.m. near the Fargo-Oaklfield Playground on the city’s west side. Police Chief Todd Bettison says the child was in front of his home riding a bike with his father supervising at the time of the shooting.
Bettison says an individual at the park fired multiple shots, striking the child. He says the boy’s father reported hearing shots and the child falling from his bike.
Bettison says the child is expected to be OK.
Bettison says the person appears to have been firing shots randomly, which he calls “problematic.” He says a person of interest is described as possibly between 15 and 16 years old and wearing a mask. He says the person is known to frequent the area.
“When you fire a weapon, what goes up must go down,” Bettison said. “To parents and everyone, know where your kids are. Juveniles should not have guns, and whether you’re an adult or a child, you should not be firing a weapon inside of the city limits.”
Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield released a statement, saying in part, “By the grace of God, this young boy will recover from his injury and is on his way home from the hospital. With that said, this incident was senseless and could have had a much more tragic ending.
“Every child in Detroit deserves to feel safe riding their bike, playing outside, and simply being a child in their own neighborhood. We cannot accept a reality where our children are placed in harm’s way because someone chose to recklessly fire a gun.”
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 800-Speak Up.
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