Background: The Goodyear location in Memphis, Tenn. where police responded to a medical call (Google Maps). Inset: Bernice Jarrett (Shelby County Sheriff’s Office).
A woman who had been charged with taking care of a half dozen disabled adults has been charged with felony neglect in Tennessee.
Bernice Jarrett, 61, was transporting the six passengers in a yellow bus from Texas to Virginia, according to the Memphis Police Department in a post announcing the Tuesday arrest. The police said that officers responded to a medical call at a Goodyear Tire location and found the bus, which had a trailer attached to it. Inside the bus were five intellectually disabled adults and one adult with dementia. One of them was critically injured the day before by another adult on the bus, but had not been given medical attention.
Police said the six passengers were “living in a space with no running water, no food, and overall uninhabitable and inhumane conditions.”
In the trailer were three goats.
Police said that during the road trip from Texas, Jarrett — who was described by police as the passengers’ caregiver — allegedly stayed in hotels by herself and left the adults and goats in the bus and trailer overnight “unattended.” According to the police, all of the adults were in dire condition, wearing dirty clothes and malnourished. They were all taken to the hospital, one of them in critical condition.
Local NBC affiliate WMC reported that one of the adults had died, a development that was confirmed on Wednesday by the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office. It was not confirmed if the passenger said to be in critical condition was the one who died.
Jarrett was arrested by the Memphis Police Department and booked into the county jail, where she is currently being held on $80,000 bond. She was charged with six counts of aggravated neglect of an elderly or vulnerable adult and five counts of neglect of a vulnerable adult, 11 felonies total. She is expected to appear in court on April 11.
WMC reported that the goats were in the care of Memphis Animal Services.
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