DETROIT (WXYZ) – “He shouldn’t be in jail,” Marty Hayden said of his 22-year-old son Jaden, who has been charged with several counts, including the May 2020 beating of Norman Bledsoe in a nursing home in the West side of Detroit. .
The charges against Jaden Hayden were dismissed after declaring him incompetent.
Marty Hayden said that if his son was convicted and sent to prison, it would only worsen his mental health problems.
“So the system will let him down again. He will not be rehabilitated,” Marty Hayden told 7 Action News on Tuesday, adding that because of his son’s mental health problems he could not understand the severity of his actions.
Marty Hayden hopes to find a lawyer to prosecute for placing his son in a nursing home, where he believes he was set to fail and Bledsoe became a victim.
“Why put him in a nursing home? Elderly people are around, ”he said.
Jaden Hayden filmed himself on video repeatedly struck by Bledsoe as an army veteran lay in his bed. Two men lived in a room at Westwood Nursing Center on the West Side of Detroit.
Jaden Hayden was at a group home in Washington County when he called his father to say he heard voices and thought people wanted to kill him.
“He was in crisis,” Marty Hayden said of his son, who had a history of violent behavior.
In early May 2020, Jaden Hayden called 911 to be sent to hospital for treatment. His father said it was at the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor, where Jadon was then diagnosed with COVID-19. He said that then a 20-year-old boy who dreamed of becoming a boxer was sent to a nursing home to recover.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer and state health officials have been criticized for allowing nursing homes to accept those being treated for COVID-19 for further care. And nursing homes have been criticized for being motivated by money to participate in becoming the center of COVID-19.
“They threw the ball. Why should they give my child to a nursing home,” Marty Hayden said, adding that everyone involved in the decision to send their son to a nursing home should have seen that his record had been attacked. as well as other problems associated with his schizophrenia.
“They should have known,” said Jaden Hayden’s lawyer, Brian Berry. “I think the institution had an idea of who Jadon was and what treatment he needed. I think they knew or had a story that he had schizophrenia, and it had to be treated differently. ”
Berry said that although the charges were dropped without prejudice, he believes it is unlikely that the case will be repeated.
“Jadon’s condition won’t change much,” he said. “Unfortunately, both the victim in this case and the defendant found themselves in a bad situation.”
Bledsoe died two months after the attack at another nursing home. His death was not recognized as murder.
The Bledsoe family hired a lawyer, Jeffrey Figer, and a lawsuit was filed against the nursing home.
Marty Hayden said he expresses his condolences to the Bledsoe family. He said he also hopes that those involved in placing his son in a nursing home will be brought to justice.
7 Action News contacted the Westwood Nursing Center, but they did not respond.
Brother Bledsoe said he hoped one day Jaden Hayden would be held accountable for his actions.