BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — I was scrolling through TikTok when I came across a video showing what appeared to be elder abuse happening right here in Bakersfield. I reached out to the user who posted the video, and she told me she had filed a report with the District Attorney’s Office—but the case was dismissed.
During the month of June, I was working on a series of stories focused on Elder Abuse Awareness when this video popped up on my TikTok feed.
I reached out to the user who posted it. Windy Duenas tells me she filed a police report with the Kern County Sheriff’s Office on June 12. However, she says that when she contacted the District Attorney’s Office, she was told there wasn’t much they could do.
"The DA that I spoke to said that there was not sufficient evidence to take this in front of 12 people—that he could not convince 12 people that this was a crime. When there is physical abuse here. I’m sorry, but smacking my mom in the face with a fly swatter is abuse." Duenas says.
I reached out to the District Attorney’s Office for comment. They sent the following statement, which reads in part:
"Intemperate words or even outwardly rude conduct does not qualify as 'infliction of unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering' required to sustain a criminal charge of elder abuse.An incident with a fly swatter was described, wherein the elder person was alleged to have been hit with a fly swatter. The elder at issue denied that this was an offensive touching and corroborated the suspect’s statement that she was, in fact, addressing a fly that had been a problem in the home for hours.Not only did the victim explain the fly swatter incident, she denied any previous physical abuse, and denied that there was any infliction of pain, or that there were ever incidents where she went thirsty or hungry. She did elaborate that the caretaker verbalized what seemed like her frustration.Criminal charges were not issued because they could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt."
Later in the day, the DA’s Office sent me a second statement, with additional information that could change the course of the investigation. It reads:
“The District Attorney’s Office has spoken with the victim’s family, who informed us that dozens of videos were submitted to the Kern County Sheriff’s Office. The videos were not referenced in the report nor submitted as evidence to our office. The statement I provided is accurate based on the evidence available to us at the time of our review. Our next step will be to examine the additional evidence that is expected to be presented.”
However, Windy claims the DA's Office did have all 40-plus videos. "That’s another thing too—I just didn’t feel like there was adequate time taken by him. There’s no way that he could’ve reviewed everything my sister and I sent. He didn’t have the time. So to make this judgment call that quickly and drop the ball like that—I just feel like it was not looked into properly." She said.
The TikTok video has now reached over 35 million views. Meanwhile, Windy is reaching out—asking for advice, sharing her story, and starting petitions in the hope, she says, of getting justice.
Right now, it’s unknown whether the DA’s Office will file charges based on its review of the full set of videos.
Authorities tell me the best thing to do is report elder abuse when you see it. However, Windy says that’s hard to trust after what happened in this case.
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