A Burke County woman has been arrested after allegedly beating her grandson almost every night, according to investigators. Patricia Green was taken into custody on Sunday and charged with cruelty to children in the first degree. Authorities confirmed she is employed by Doctors Hospital, which suspended her on Monday pending the investigation.
The Burke County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were called to the counselor’s office at Burke County High School on Friday around 2:20 p.m. There, they met with a school counselor and a 14-year-old male student who reported ongoing abuse at home.
Deputies documented the boy’s visible injuries and turned him over to the custody of his grandfather. According to the incident report, the teenager had a busted lip, a laceration on the top of his head, and bruising that stretched along his left arm from the elbow to the forearm.
The student told investigators that his grandmother, Patricia Green, “beats him” almost nightly. He said the head wound came from Green striking him with a dust pan several days earlier. He also reported that Green had been drinking heavily the previous evening before hitting him and busting his lip, reports WRDW.
The teen could not recall how he received the bruises on his arm, but repeated that the violence happened regularly. He further explained that his grandfather tries to intervene, but that Green often turns on him as well. When the grandfather defends himself or the boy, the student said, Green calls the police. Officials noted that the grandfather had previously been arrested in such situations.
Deputies later interviewed the grandfather at their residence on Mini Farms Road. He confirmed his grandson’s account. “Whatever he told you is the truth,” the grandfather told investigators.
He added that Green “drinks heavily” and becomes irate over not receiving child support for the boy, then takes it out on him. He said this happens “almost nightly.” Asked specifically about the laceration on the boy’s head, the grandfather responded, “The dust pan.”
The grandfather acknowledged that another juvenile also lives in the home, but said Green does not target him, focusing her anger only on the victim. Because the boy’s parents are unable to raise him, the grandparents have full custody.
The grandfather said he encouraged the teenager to seek help from his school counselor after feeling he was not receiving support elsewhere. Following the interviews, the sheriff’s office obtained warrants and arrested Patricia Green.