A disabled man lost his life when a palm tree fell on him during a walk with his caregiver from the notorious center where a nurse raped and impregnated a patient without the staff knowing a few years ago.
Ryne Zehner, 29, was killed when a palm tree struck on him at Highline Park in Phoenix, Arizona, when wind gusts in the area reached up to 45mph on Thursday.
The victim’s family confirmed that he was residing at Hacienda Healthcare, a facility previously known for a disturbing incident where a male nurse raped and impregnated a woman in a vegetative state a few years ago.
When emergency crews rushed to the scene on Thursday, cutting the tree to free Zehner, he had already died. His caregiver was not hurt.
Ryne Zehner, 29, lost his life when a palm tree fell on him during a walk with his caregiver from the notorious center where a nurse raped and impregnated a patient without the staff knowing a few years ago
He was killed when a palm tree struck on him at Highline Park in Phoenix, Arizona, when wind gusts in the area reached up to 45mph on Thursday
The victim had been a patient at Hacienda Healthcare in Phoenix for 26 years. Her medical conditions stem from a brain disorder that caused motor and cognitive impairments and vision loss
Bill Coates, a witness who frequents the park, expressed condolence in an interview with local station AZ Family, saying, ‘It’s sad that that’s somebody that we see here every day.’
Coates mentioned his recent article for a local newspaper was about interactions with people in the park.
The healthcare center said Zehner’s death was the result of an ‘incomprehensible accident’ in a statement issued afterward.
‘This incomprehensible accident has all of us at Hacienda grieving at such a tragic loss. Ryne was a unique individual and someone we loved very much. Our hearts go out to Ryne’s family and everyone who loved him,’ they wrote.
Hacienda Healthcare was put under fire in 2019 after a harrowing incident where a woman in a long-term vegetative state gave birth at an Arizona care home after being raped by a male nurse.
Hacienda Healthcare faced scrutiny in 2019 after a woman in a long-term vegetative state gave birth at an Arizona care home after being sexually assaulted by a male nurse.
The harrowing incident in 2018 triggered global outrage, but bodycam footage was only shared by police in December last year following a Freedom of Information request.
Hacienda Healthcare faced scrutiny in 2019 after a woman in a long-term vegetative state gave birth at an Arizona care home after being sexually assaulted by a male nurse
The harrowing incident in 2018 triggered global outrage, but bodycam footage was only shared by police in December last year following a Freedom of Information request
Another staff member revealed how it was only when she was changing the victim’s diaper that she saw a baby was coming
Staff at Hacienda Healthcare in Phoenix appeared completely bewildered with many seen to be in tears following the birth, as the entire pregnancy had come as a complete surprise.
The footage also shows police in the room with the victim – although it is heavily pixelated and neither she nor her newborn are visible.
‘And when I looked, it was a *inaudible*. The baby coming,’ a distressed nurse can be heard telling an officer as she tearfully recounts the moment of birth and how she saw a baby’s head poking out as she changed the victim’s adult diaper.
‘When she opened the diaper, there was a head. And that poor aide didn’t work for a month. She was so distraught, so traumatized by the whole thing,’ a former employee told AZFamily.
The woman, who was 29 at the time of the rape, has been severely disabled almost all of her life – since the age of three – and has been in a coma for most of it, meaning she was in no position to consent to sex.
She had lived at Hacienda for 26 years, until the child’s birth. Her medical conditions stem from a brain disorder that caused motor and cognitive impairments and vision loss. She was also left with no functional use of her limbs.
Former licensed nurse Nathan Sutherland, 36, pleaded guilty to sexual assault and abuse of a vulnerable adult for impregnating the woman in a vegetative state in 2018
Sutherland is seen in court following his arrest in 2019
She gave birth at the facility as staff frantically called 911 for assistance, telling the operator that they had not known the 112-pound patient was pregnant.
As part of the police investigation into the sexual assault, compulsory DNA tests were conducted on male staff at the facility revealing Nathan Sutherland, a devout Christian and father-of-four, to be the rapist.
Investigators arrested him and he was later convicted in court of rape and given a 10-year jail term.
Sutherland blamed being sexually assaulted at an orphanage and neglected by his mother, which he said caused him to ‘act inappropriately’ and ‘commit the evil act.’
That revelation came as huge shock to staff with him being described as the unlikeliest of suspects. He had worked at Hacienda for eight years – with staff there so fond of him they expressed relief that he was working in the aftermath of the horrific discovery.
At his sentencing he expressed ‘sincere’ remorse for his actions.
‘To the victim, I am very sorry. You do not deserve to be hurt. No matter what was going on in my personal life and the demons I was fighting. I had no right to put you through that. No words can express how painfully sorry I am. I am sincerely sorry.’