Frail Alzheimer’s sufferer beaten, stomped when he confuses assailant’s car for his daughter’s

The Brutal beating of a Texas man weighing “less than 100 pounds” and suffering from Alzheimer’s captured on video after confusion led him to the wrong car.

(Video: KTRK)

A stop at a local meat market in north Houston, Texas for a tamale ingredient turned to tragedy the Saturday before Christmas when 67-year-old Florentino Hurtado’s confusion prompted an unhinged attack from strangers in the parking lot.

Surveillance footage showed as the suspects approached Hurtado after he tried the door handle of a car his daughter Jessica told KTRK he likely suspected was hers. The mistake made as his wife was in the market rapidly escalated when the man in the red shirt, alleged to be Trayvion Lockridge took a swing at the Alzheimer’s and dementia patient before throwing him to the ground.

There, the suspect could be seen straddling the victim, continuing to pummel him with punches before the other suspect, alleged to be Derodric Stephens, was seen coming around the other side of the vehicle as Hurtado’s head was stomped on.

“It’s hard to watch, to see someone have that aggression towards somebody and the fact that it’s our dad. He didn’t deserve it,” his daughter told KTRK.

Moments later, Hurtado could be seen getting back to his feet as the suspects had climbed into the vehicle before driving off. From there, the victim began walking unsteadily through the parking lot.

“My dad, you can see him stumble up and get up, and you could tell he was obviously confused and dazed as well, and he started wandering towards the pawnshop,” remarked Jessica.

“A simple push, a simple ‘go away,'” she contended, “my dad would have walked away.”

Transported to a local hospital, Hurtado, whom his family said weighed less than 100 pounds and required constant supervision since his diagnosis two years earlier, had to get stitches for the array of cuts suffered in addition to a broken cheekbone and a possible traumatic brain injury.

According to police who had arrested Lockridge, the suspect was alleged to have punched the victim eight times and stomped on him at least four. During his hearing, the state had requested Lockridge’s bond be set at $1 million only to have the defense counter with a request for a mere $3,000. The court proceeded to set bond at $50,000 for the charges of aggravated robbery over 65 of Hurtado, whose phone the suspects had taken after the beating.

Faced with the same charges, Stephens’ bond had yet to be set, and it was reported that he was already out on bond for five different charges. Both men remained in custody at Harris County Jail at the time of this post and, if found guilty, faced up to 99 years in prison.

“I understand my dad made a horrible mistake, but he didn’t deserve what the person did to him, so it’s been very hard,” Jessica told KTRK. “I think anyone who understands the people who deal with Alzheimer’s or just older people, everyone gets confused.”

As for Hurtado, there had been only one moment after the attack that he was said to have recalled the incident asking why anyone would have hurt him.

Kevin Haggerty

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