Suspect Indicted for Brutal Beating of 93-Year-Old, Wheelchair Bound Man

SAN ANGELO— A San Angelo man has been indicted for allegedly beating a patient in a nursing home.

Tariq Jamal Haqq, AGE, has been indicted by a Tom Green County grand jury for Injury to an Elderly Person after allegedly beating an older, mostly non-verbal man so badly that the victim had broken ribs.

According to court documents, on July 22, 2023, a San Angelo police officer responded to Shannon Medical Center regarding an assault at occurred at San Angelo Nursing & Rehab, located at 5455 Knickerbocker Road. A charge nurse at Shannon said the elderly victim had several broken ribs.

Officers and detectives went to San Angelo Nursing & Rehab and spoke with two nurses. One of the nurses claimed that it was early in the evening when she observed the victim and, at the time, he did not have any injuries.

The nurse stated that the victim, a 93-year-old man, is wheelchair bound and is mostly non-verbal. She told another nurse that the defendant, identified as Haqq, had been seen leaving the victim’s room with wet wipes that appeared to be covered in blood.

After this, three nurses went to check on the victim and saw that he had several injuries to his left ear, left shoulder, stomach, chest, and left shin. They asked the victim what happened, and he held up his fists and moved them in a fighting motion. At this time, Haqq walked into the room. The nurses asked the victim who beat him, and he pointed at Haqq.

The nurse confronted Haqq and he stated that he did not know what happened.

A different nurse stated that she had gone into the victim’s room and saw Haqq standing over the victim who was laying on his back in bed and was bleeding. Haqq was observed cleaning blood from the victim. The nurse then asked what happened and Haqq claimed again that he did not know. Then, the nurse asked a second time what happened to the victim and Haqq said, “oh whatever”.

A ball of blood-soaked wet wipes was seen by the nurse, who contacted a supervisor. When the nurse returned to the victim’s room, he was sitting on the edge of the bed with a skin tear on his left leg and had more injuries to his shin.

The director of the nursing facility stated that he was not working on the night of the incident and was informed by nurses about it. He also said that the victim had multiple fall reports but nothing that resulting in the type of injuries he suffered like broken bones for even visible injuries.

Security footage on the night of July 22, 2023, at 9:00 p.m. showed the victim in the hallway with no injuries. Shortly after, the victim was returned to his room. Around 9:15 p.m., Haqq was seen entering the room and did not leave for about 20 minutes. During the video, only one other nurse, who was one of the nurses who gave a statement, was seen going into the room for about 30 seconds. A few hours later, several other nurses entered the room and emerged from it with the victim who was seen with the injuries.

The injuries were observable through the security footage.

Haqq was arrested and booked into the Tom Green County Jail on July 28, 2023, and was released on August 4, 2023, on $52,895 bond. The arrest information did not indicate if Haqq was an employee of San Angelo Nursing & Rehab.