Washington, D.C

3 former employees of DC psychiatric hospital indicted in death of patient – WTOP News

Published

3 months ago

April 9, 2026

3 former employees of DC psychiatric hospital indicted in death of patient – WTOP News

U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro announced Wednesday indictments against three employees of the Psychiatric Institute of Washington for their roles in the death of a patient.

Three employees of the Psychiatric Institute of Washington have been indicted on charges related to the death of a patient, U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro said Wednesday.

At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Pirro said the three employees — Nelson Kuma, 37, Richard Hounnou, 45, and Norma Munoz-Bent, 68, all residents of Maryland — are charged with one count of criminally negligent homicide and face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Kuma and Hounnou work as psychiatric counselors and Munoz-Bent is a registered nurse.

All three employees pleaded not guilty and were released Tuesday pending trial, according to a news release from Pirro’s office. Pirro said her office will be filing a notice of appeal regarding their release.

In April 2020, the patient, referred to as “GW,” was a 58-year-old man who had been admitted to the Tenleytown facility for two days. He had previously had an “emergency event,” Pirro said, and had to be resuscitated.

Because of his health status, GW was meant to receive one-to-one care, where a health care professional was supposed to check on him every 15 minutes and enter information into a record.

According to video taken inside the hospital, the man can be seen lying nude on a mattress on the floor and having labored breathing.

Pirro said a psych tech enters the room, takes note of the man’s labored breathing but does nothing to help “for four minutes. He walks around, does nothing. A second tech enters the room, they fist bump each other, and for seven minutes, they have a very animated conversation.”

Then, a nurse enters the room, “stares at him” but does nothing to help. She returns with a blood pressure cuff but puts it on his forearm, not above his elbow.

“Here’s the bottom line, this trio did nothing to help this patient,” Pirro said. “They finally turned the man over at 12:56, and they gave him a chest compression, 21 minutes later.”

By the time they attempted the life-saving measures, he’d died.

Pirro said the health care employees “violated the most basic standard of medical care.”

“I also want to be clear this was not a close call. This was not a difficult medical judgment. This was basic, entry-level incompetence. This was completely abandoning the health of a human being. They had a legal and an ethical duty to act, and they chose not to,” she said.

The three employees will return to court May 29.

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Related Topics:criminal neglect dc crime Featured indictment Jeanine Pirro psychiatric institute of washington Tenleytown

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Washington, D.C

About 120 Iowa National Guard soldiers leave today for D.C. deployment – Radio Iowa

Published

6 hours ago

July 10, 2026

Press Room

Dozens of Iowa National Guard soldiers leaving Iowa today will spend the next six months serving in Washington, D.C..

Last August, President Trump issued an executive order declaring there was an epidemic of crime in the nation’s capitol and he immediately mobilized National Guard troops from the District of Columbia. The Pentagon then started asking state guard units to deploy to D.C. and made a request of Governor Kim Reynolds last year. “They asked earlier and I said no because we had one of the largest deployments that we’ve had for a long, long time and I just felt we were stretched pretty thin,” Reynolds said.

In May of last year, nearly 2000 Iowa National Guard soldiers were deployed to the Middle East. The final group of those soldiers returned to Iowa last month. Reynolds said the Pentagon “circled back” recently and asked her to send a group of Iowa Guard soldiers to D.C. and she’s deployed 120 Iowa Guard soldiers to D.C. “to ensure the safety and security” of people who are in the nation’s capitol, “especially with everything that’s going on with the 250th birthday of our country,” Reynolds said, “and so we were able to participate and do our share.”

Reynolds told reporters the federal government will pay the entire cost of the deployment. Reynolds will speak this morning at a private send off ceremony for the Iowa Guard soldiers before they leave for D.C. There were over 5000 National Guard troops in Washington this past Sunday, including 185 from Nebraska and over 100 from Minnesota.

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Washington, D.C

Why Gov. Kim Reynolds turned down previous request to send National Guard to D.C.

Published

16 hours ago

July 9, 2026

Press Room

Why Gov. Kim Reynolds turned down previous request to send National Guard to D.C.

DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa State Capitol Bureau) — One hundred and twenty members of the Iowa National Guard are leaving Friday for Washington, D.C., where they will assist with security measures and America 250 celebrations at the request of the Trump administration.

Reynolds initially said no

Gov. Kim Reynolds said she had previously declined the Trump administration’s request, citing the strain of one of the state’s largest recent deployments.

“They asked earlier, and I said no because we had one of the largest deployments that we’ve had for a long, long time and I just felt that we were stretched pretty thin,” Reynolds said.

Nearly 2,000 Iowa National Guard members had spent a year or more deployed to the Middle East. Those soldiers have since returned home.

Guard members now available following Middle East return

With those troops back, Reynolds said Iowa was in a position to fulfill the president’s request.

“We have them all back. They circled back, especially with everything that’s going on with the 250th uh birthday uh of our country. And so we were able to participate and do our share,” Reynolds said.

Different states have sent National Guard members to Washington, D.C., since last August.

Reynolds said the federal government will pay the costs of Iowa’s deployment to Washington, D.C.

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Washington, D.C

Metro Red Line Summer Shutdown: Changes to shuttle bus service after concerns

Published

1 day ago

July 9, 2026

Press Room

Metro Red Line Summer Shutdown: Changes to shuttle bus service after concerns

WASHINGTON – Metro riders are seeing changes Thursday morning as WMATA adjusts its shuttle bus system following concerns about long lines and confusion tied to the Red Line summer shutdown.

Express shuttles to North Bethesda will now only pick up on Wisconsin Avenue near the Trader Joe’s. Local shuttles serving Bethesda, Medical Center and Grosvenor have been moved to the Friendship Heights Metro station, while some regular Metrobus routes are picking up on Western Avenue.

Red Line Shuttle Service Updates

• Local shuttle boarding will be relocated to Bus Bay K – the current C83/D96 bus stop on Wisconsin Ave.
• C83 and D96 buses will be relocated to the bus shelter on Western Ave near Wisconsin Ave.
• Express shuttle boarding will remain in the 5300 block of Wisconsin Ave NW.

What we know:

FOX 5’s Melanie Alnwick says Red Line riders say the shutdown has added time to their commute, though many are trying to stay positive. The shuttles connect North Bethesda and Friendship Heights through September 6, when Purple Line construction is expected to wrap up.

Metro Red Line summer shutdown leads to long shuttle lines

Metro Red Line Summer Shutdown: Changes to shuttle bus service after concerns

The workaround relies on dedicated shuttle bus lanes along northbound and southbound Wisconsin Avenue/355 and up to Rockville Pike. But truck drivers, delivery drivers and passenger vehicles have been stopping or parking in those lanes, forcing shuttles to go around and slowing traffic.

Metro and Montgomery County police have increased enforcement to keep the lanes clear. Metro Transit Police say they asked more than 60 drivers to move out of the bus lanes in the first days of the shutdown.

Metro is also adding about 100 parking spaces at Friendship Heights in the former Lord & Taylor garage. Some Montgomery County riders are opting for the MARC train downtown instead.

Metro’s Red Line shutdown is now in full effect: Here’s what you need to know