AIDE AFRAID OF A 103-YR.-OLD
Who’d call cops on this cranky li’l granny?
Cops rushed with lights and sirens in response to a call of a dangerous woman in the East Village on Wednesday — only to discover the “perp” was someone born before World War I broke out.
Mercedes Rios, 103, who makes up in feistiness what she lacks in size, struck so much fear in the heart of her home health aide during a temper tantrum that the woman called 911 for help.
The aide reported that a violent woman was beating her up, prompting police to rush to the East Second Street scene around 9:30 a.m. What the officers found was a sight more heartwarming than blood-chilling.
“She didn’t like the home attendants. She likes us,” one of the NYPD officers said. “She was so cute.”
The officers were able to calm Rios, who is so old she predates women’s suffrage.
She was eventually put on a stretcher and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital for observation.
The paramedics and cops couldn’t help but smile and pose for pictures as she was loaded intoo an ambulance.
Her aide, Emene, said she called 911 because she just couldn’t deal with the fiery woman.
“She is upset and she cries. Shee takes things and tries to throw them. She tried to beat me,” said Emene, who tuned out to be unhurt.
“She is old and a baby. Babies do those things. Happens a lot, since she is old.”
As needlessly dramatic as Rios’ removal appeared to be, it’s not the first time an aide has called the cops on her, said Fernando Mariscal, program director of senior advocacy group Community Access, which has worked with Rios over the years.
While it may look like the situa- tion was an overreaction by Rios’ aide — who is not affiliated with Mariscal’s group — home healthcare workers are told to call 911 if there is any hint of trouble, Mariscal said.
“When 911 is called to get paramedics, it goes to the police, too. That’s just the way it works,” Mariscal said.
Rios, like many of her neighbors, is fighting a number of serious health and mental-health issues.
“She has dementia and has been having a lot of issues. She screamed today, always a crisis,” said Mariscal. “She should be in a nursing home. It’s sad. I have recommended for her to be in nursing home. I feel powerless.”
Rios has health-care aides in her apartment 12 hours a day, but Mariscal said he’s been lobbying the woman’s family to move her into nursing home.
“Her neighbors complain about her since she screams at night,” the social worker said. “When she’s having some kind of delusions or episodes, then we have a situation like this.”