LEXINGTON, S.C. — Prosecutors and law enforcement have decided no charges will be filed after an incident involving the wife of U.S. Representative Joe Wilson at a care facility in Lexington County.
The decision involved Roxanne Wilson and an allegation made against her back on September 29 at the Columbia Presbyterian Community Care Center on Davega Drive in Lexington County.
An incident report filed with the Lexington County Sheriff's Department said employees claimed Wilson forced her mother, a patient at the center, to take her medication.
The report said two medical technicians told deputies that they tried to give 98-year-old Martha Dusenbery her medication, but she would not take it. They said when Roxanne Wilson arrived, she was told that her mother didn't take her pills. After attempting again to get her to take the drugs, they said the mother spit them out.
At that point, the technicians said to deputies that Wilson told her mother she would take the medicine and forced it into her mother's mouth with a fork. The employees told deputies Roxanne Wilson also forced water into Dusenbery's mouth until she was choking. Wilson allegedly told the technicians when it was over, "See there, she took it."
Responding deputies interviewed several members of the staff, as well as Wilson and Dusenbery. The Eleventh Circuit Solicitor's Office reviewed the body camera footage that included those interviews and other exchanges between Wilson and the staff.
The report said Wilson's actions "don't appear excessive from a reasonable perspective." When they saw Dusenbery afterward, the deputies noted she didn't seem distressed or appear to have sustained any apparent injuries. Deputies also asked Dusenbery if what the staff said was what actually took place, and she responded, "No." Wilson's sister reportedly made a statement disputing the employees' claims, saying she was on the phone with her sister as the incident transpired.
The Eleventh Circuit Solicitor's Office felt the claims were without merit. Still, it did present the case to a Lexington County magistrate judge, who decided no crime had occurred and no warrant would be issued.
"After a thorough investigation, as well as a review of the evidence and statements in this matter, no charges will be filed in this case," Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said in a statement. "We arrived at this result after detectives consulted the Solicitor's Office, which advised the case had no prosecutorial merit. Ultimately, a detective presented the findings and evidence gathered during our investigation to a magistrate judge, who determined there was no probable cause to make an arrest. In light of these developments, the case will be closed."