Linda M Thomas… Photo provided by the CCSD.
According to a report by Coffee County Sheriff’s Deputy Shaun Green, around 8 p.m. officers were dispatched to the residence to check on the welfare of a woman there.
A caller to the Coffee County Communication Center said her grandmother suffers from Parkinson Disease and could not care for herself, so Thomas was hired to assist with daily chores, but was afraid Thomas had been abusing the woman.
When Deputy Greene arrived, he went to the back door and knocked several times but no one came to the door. He later noticed the lights in a room kept flickering and he heard someone yell for help.
Capt. Danny Ferrell arrived and the two officers then knocked on the back door and was told that by someone inside that they were dressing and that they would soon be to the door. They then “heard a loud noise from inside the residence” and someone yelling for help, the report states.
The officers entered the residence through an unlocked door. They then found a female in the kitchen floor who was identified as Thomas. Ferrell went to the room where they saw the lights flickering and found the victim of the abuse in the bathroom floor. She was unable to get up. Ferrell then helped the victim to her feet and onto the bed. The daughter of the victim told officers that she would like for the woman to be transported to the hospital in Murfreesboro to be “checked out.”
The victim told Deputy Greene that Thomas had barricaded her in the bathroom for about an hour. The victim told the deputy that her Parkinson disease had been “giving her problems” because Thomas had not been giving her medicine.
Paramedics from Coffee County Ambulance Service arrived and transported the victim to the Murfreesboro hospital.
Greene’s report states that Thomas had had a strong odor of an intoxicant, slurred speech, unsteady on her feet, blood shot eyes and was using vulgar language.
Thomas was booked into the Coffee County Jail on the charges.
