'He flew 10 feet': Nursing home worker shoved 72-year-old so hard he suffered traumatic brain injury and died, facility claimed he 'slid off' chair and 'bumped his head a little bit,' suit says

A 72-year-old Wisconsin man was shoved to the ground by a nursing home worker, leaving him with a traumatic brain injury after the facility claimed he “just slightly slid off a chair” and “bumped his head a little bit,” a lawsuit alleges.

Dennis Newman’s widow, Julie Newman, is taking her fight to civil court after a prosecutorial mistake led to the nursing home employee’s criminal case being dropped earlier this year. The worker had been charged with physical abuse of an elder person, a felony, after allegedly pushing Dennis Newman down in April 2025 at Waters Edge Health & Rehabilitation Center in Kenosha.

Court records viewed by Law&Crime show that Julie Newman filed a lawsuit against the nursing home and its operator on July 10, alleging that the worker caused Dennis Newman’s death, with claims of wrongful death and negligent hiring and training.

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“No human could do that, even to a pet, or any human have that happen to them. That should never happen to anyone,” Julie Newman told local NBC affiliate WTMJ. She recounted receiving a call from a Waters Edge worker who allegedly downplayed what had happened to her husband.

“A nurse that I didn’t know called me and said that he had just slightly slid off a chair to the side and bumped his head a little bit, and so to be safe they were going to take him to the hospital,” Julie Newman recalled, noting how prosecutors and police reported a much different story.

“While we were driving there, the district attorney called me and said, ‘Your husband was severely abused,'” Julie Newman explained. “She pushed him so hard that he flew 10 feet, according to the police, too, when they measured from the area pushed to where he landed.”

Julie Newman told WTMJ that Dennis Newman suffered a traumatic brain injury that caused his health to deteriorate and ultimately led to his death six months later.

“He couldn’t sleep, he couldn’t eat,” she said.

The worker who was charged in connection with Dennis Newman’s fall had her charges dismissed after a prosecutor failed to properly provide evidence showing that Dennis was over the required age of 60 for the elder abuse charge. Dennis was 72, according to his wife.

“Everybody’s jaw dropped,” Julie Newman said about the day in court when the charges were dropped. “And the abuser laughed.”

Julie Newman’s civil attorney, Kevin Demet, told WTMJ, “They could introduce the birth certificate; they could have introduced any witness to say that he was over age 60.”

Julie Newman said she wants to hold Waters Edge accountable “to protect the next person” who might be a victim of abuse there. “And maybe get Dennis a little bit of justice,” she concluded.

The civil complaint alleges that Waters Edge failed to protect Dennis Newman despite repeated warning signs, misrepresented the incident, and failed to properly care for him, the Kenosha County Eye reports.

Attempts by WTMJ to reach Waters Edge for comment have been unsuccessful. The worker told the outlet that she did nothing wrong and ultimately beat the case.

The post ‘He flew 10 feet’: Nursing home worker shoved 72-year-old so hard he suffered traumatic brain injury and died, facility claimed he ‘slid off’ chair and ‘bumped his head a little bit,’ suit says first appeared on Law & Crime.