WSVN — It’s a heartbreaking case. A woman in a wheelchair, beaten and choked, and police say, the man who did it was high on drugs.
Woman: "I tell him, ‘I couldn’t breathe, let me out, let me out.’"
She was choked.
Woman: "Good Lord, help me please, please, and I was telling the police the same thing– please."
And punched.
Woman: "Then I start screaming. Screaming."
She still has bruises all over and is still too frightened to show her face. Her 68-year-old body cowering on the floor, as cops say, she was beaten by her adoptive son, Petey Touissant.
Officer Natalie Buissereth: "This right here was one of the worse cases we’ve seen here in North Miami with someone high on drugs. He exhibited all signs of flakka."
Flakka is a synthetic drug known to cause bizarre behavior and send its users into a violent rage.
North Miami Police tell 7News they initially got the call from the suspect himself saying he was high on drugs. When they first responded, they got no response. They had no choice but to knock down this front door. When they get to a back bedroom, they were then faced with more challenges.
Officer Natalie Buissereth: "So this is the room, here, where he had dragged her from. When you heard her say he was pushing her under the bed, it was underneath here that it occurred, and he’s holding her down with one hand, while he’s punching her with the other. Officers have their guns drawn. They’re ordering him to show his hands, they’re ordering him to stop."
Police say he never stops.
Woman: "He looked like he was crazy."
Officer Natalie Buissereth: "This is where officers found her, on the ground, with the subject on top of her, so as you see, very close quarters. How do they do this? How do they handle this?"
So what do the cops do?
Officer Natalie Buissereth: "This point right here, they chose to go hands-on. When they are on drugs, you don’t know what they are on, and even a Taser can be a deadly weapon."
Cops tackle Touissant and take him into custody, and this woman, who uses a wheelchair and a walker, says she was relieved. Grateful to get out of his clutches and grateful that police didn’t hurt Touissant, who she has raised since he was 4 years old.
Woman: "They mama somewhere and their grand mama dead. So that’s why I tried to help him. Because I know if she been alive, she would’ve do the same thing for me."
She tried to do the right thing: take a little boy in. A little boy who on that day was a grown man, apparently high on drugs. Thanks to the officers on the scene, her life was saved.
Woman: "I’m still alive. Look at me sitting here. I might be in pain and some soreness, but I’m still sitting here. I’m still here talking to you right? God is good all the time. A lot of people don’t believe that, but I believe it."
The suspect is still in jail tonight, facing several charges including aggravated battery on a person over the age of 65.
In North Miami, Rosh Lowe 7News.