News 12 at six o'clock, April 24, 2008

Edgefield, SC---Claims of elder abuse have surfaced at an Edgefield nursing home. An 81 year old man says a nurse punched him in the eye.

"I'm feelin' bad," said 81 year old Venson Rodgers. He says a nurse at the Trinity Mission Health and Rehab Center punched him.

"I think I'm in shock because I just can't believe it's happened," said Dianne Long. Long is Venson's daughter. She is now struggling with feelings of regret after her father's dementia forced him into a nursing home, and now this.

"Inside it's just like something is eating me up cause I'm just so scared I'm so scared of what's gone happen to him if I leave him," said Dianne.

"There are people out there who are criminally minded who do take advantage of the elderly...I don't, and I don't tolerate it in my employees," said Denise Fallaw who is director of the nursing home.

Meanwhile, Denise Bagwell turned herself in to police early Thursday. She is facing felony charges for abuse of a vulnerable adult.

Police say Bagwell insists she was defending herself from a combative patient. "I think what she was doing was trying to prevent herself from being hit again, and he ended up getting hit in the eye," said Fallaw.

Edgefield Police Chief Ronnie Carter says, "It does look like he was punched in the eye whether it was an accident by his own hands or whether the nurse hit him...that will be for a judge to decide."

One thing is certain...Mr. Rodgers has a long recovery ahead. He has a badly bruised eye, bone fractures, and a blood clot that doctors will monitor.

Denise Bagwell was released Thursday. She'll go before a judge in June. If convicted she could face five years in prison.