CBS2 Exclusive: 90-Year-Old Woman Says Home Aide Turned Violent

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A home health aide is under arrest after police say she was abusing the elderly woman in her care.

The 90-year-old called 911, but the call suddenly cut off.

Then, police said the aide tried to block officers from entering the house.

The 90-year-old victim was living as proudly and independently as she can in her Garden City Park home, until she was ruffed up and bruised, say police, by her home health aide.

"I managed to get the phone, otherwise I think I would have been dead today," she said.

The senior citizen hired a private aide, 32-year-old Tasha Smalls, 13 days ago.

That's when the cruel treatment began, the widow said.

"Scratched me, but the kick was there, her fist, and she's a big woman," she said.

Suspect Smalls lives in Huntington Station and told a judge that she is a graduate of Farmingdale State College. She denied elderly abuse, and claimed the woman made it all up because she suffers from dementia.

"I was a bookkeeper for 25 years for the board of education," the victim said.

She went for x-rays yesterday and has no idea why the aide turned on her.

"I've been telling my friends, anybody as old as I am, make sure you search and secure who you are hiring, who you are letting in your house," she said.

"We all hope that our parents and grandparents can stay in their homes for as long as possible, but we want them to be sage more than anything else. Home is the best place to do that as long as you are taking the proper precautions to make sure that the folks you are welcoming into that person's home and into their life are going to do the right thing," Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds, Family and Children's Association said.

The victim is now living with a loving, caring aide who asked to see her wedding photos.

Her plans now?

"To make it to 91," she said.

The aide told a judge the dispute began when she was getting out of the shower, wrapped in a towel, and it wasn't a good time to help the 90-year-old woman's call for help.

Tasha Smalls was being held on $3,000 bond. She's charged with endangering the welfare of an elderly person and criminal mischief.