A nursing home staffer at the Silver Stream Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Lower Gwynedd was recently arrested after she allegedly assaulted a Black female employee and began shouting racial slurs while police were on scene.
Lauren Panas, 35, of Philadelphia, has been charged with ethnic intimidation, simple assault and harassment in connection with the March 19 incident.
According to the criminal complaint, police were dispatched to the scene at 6:11 a.m. for a report of a disturbance involving two employees. Upon arrival, responding officers encountered Panas outside of a second-floor elevator who stated that she was “glad that a white cop was there,” the report states.
Panas stated that she was punched four times by another employee, however she refused to provide a written statement and requested that a Black officer that responded to the scene not be included in the incident report, police said. While investigators spoke with the second employee, the report states that Panas yelled “I can’t say the word n****r in America,” then proceeded to repeatedly yell “n****r” and rant about slavery being abolished in 1865.
The second employee stated that she was changing a patient’s diaper when Panas entered the room and asked to give the patient their medicine, police said. The second employee requested that Panas wait until she was finished changing the patient, at which point Panas called her a “n****r” and referred to her as a “dumb b***h,” the report states.
As the second employee began to stand up, Panas allegedly punched her in the face twice and again referred to her as a “n****r,” police said. The second employee then pushed Panas in self-defense, left the room and began walking a beverage cart down the hallway, at which point Panas pushed the cart over and spilled its contents on the floor, according to the report.
The complaint notes that as investigators were speaking to the director of nursing on the phone, Panas walked over and pressed the phone switch hook down to deliberately disconnect the phone. Police said Panas continued to shout racial slurs while walking the second floor, and she remained uncooperative and confrontational throughout the investigation.
As a result of the assault, the second employee sought out medical attention which revealed she had suffered a strained neck, the report states.
Charges were officially filed against Panas on March 30, however she had not yet been arraigned meaning bail has not been set and no booking image is available at this time. Panas first court appearance on the charges is a preliminary hearing at 9 a.m. on May 20 in front of Magisterial District Judge Suzan Leonard.
A human resources representative with the Silver Stream Nursing and Rehabilitation Center told North Penn Now that Panas had come to work at the facility through an outside agency, and she is no longer working or welcome at the nursing home.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using court records and the affidavit of probable cause.
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