Why a Kenosha abuse case was dropped over one missing document

Dennis Newman, 72, suffered a traumatic brain injury after a worker at his Wisconsin nursing home allegedly shoved him to the ground — an injury that led to his death six months later. Now his widow, Julie Newman, is taking her fight to civil court.

The worker had been criminally charged with physical abuse of an elder person, a felony, over the April 2025 incident at Waters Edge Health & Rehabilitation Center in Kenosha — but the case was dropped earlier this year following a prosecutorial error, according to Law&Crime.

Widow says facility downplayed the incident

Julie Newman filed a civil lawsuit against the nursing home and its operator on July 10, alleging the worker's actions caused Dennis Newman's death, with claims of wrongful death and negligent hiring and training, court records show.

She told local NBC affiliate WTMJ that a nurse she didn't recognize initially called to downplay what had happened. "A nurse that I didn't know called me and said that he had just slightly slid off a chair to the side and bumped his head a little bit, and so to be safe they were going to take him to the hospital," she recalled.

The real account, she said, came from the district attorney. "While we were driving there, the district attorney called me and said, 'Your husband was severely abused,'" Newman explained. "She pushed him so hard that he flew 10 feet, according to the police, too, when they measured from the area pushed to where he landed."

Injury led to death six months later

Newman told WTMJ the traumatic brain injury caused her husband's health to deteriorate steadily. "He couldn't sleep, he couldn't eat," she said. Dennis Newman died six months after the incident.

Charges dropped over paperwork error

The worker's criminal charges were dismissed after a prosecutor failed to properly submit evidence proving Dennis Newman was over the age of 60, a requirement for the elder abuse charge. He was 72, according to his wife.

"Everybody's jaw dropped," Newman said of the moment the charges were dropped in court. "And the abuser laughed."

Her civil attorney, Kevin Demet, said proving his age should have been straightforward. "They could introduce the birth certificate; they could have introduced any witness to say that he was over age 60," Demet told WTMJ.

Widow seeks accountability

Newman said she filed the lawsuit to hold Waters Edge accountable "to protect the next person" who could be at risk there, and "maybe get Dennis a little bit of justice."

The civil complaint alleges the facility failed to protect Dennis Newman despite repeated warning signs, misrepresented the incident, and failed to properly care for him, according to the Kenosha County Eye.

Attempts by WTMJ to reach Waters Edge for comment were unsuccessful. The worker told the outlet she did nothing wrong.