Former Tyler nursing home worker gets probation in death of man tied to wheelchair

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - A former employee of a Tyler nursing home pleaded guilty Friday in the death of a resident who was tied to a wheelchair.

Bobby Posey, 23, of Brownsboro, was arrested on Jan. 7, 2022, after Larry Coffey, a resident of the Tyler nursing home where Posey worked, died after falling while tied to a wheelchair. Posey was charged with injury to an elderly or disabled person causing reckless body injury, and was accused of causing harm to Coffey by ignoring that the man was tied to a wheelchair. On Friday, Posey pleaded guilty to the crime in Judge Austin Jackson’s court and received five years deferred probation.

In the original case, Coffey had been tied to the chair by Ezell Thompson, 67, of Tyler, another employee of the nursing home, who was sentenced to five years in prison by Jackson on Jan. 31. Thompson received two concurrent five-year sentences for charges of injury to an elderly or disabled person and tampering with evidence. Thompson had pleaded not guilty, claiming he had restrained Coffey to protect the man, who was a dementia patient and had a history of falling.

Posey’s indictment said that he had a legal duty to act, and had assumed care, custody, or control of the elderly individual by virtue of his employment at the facility. For ignoring the man’s restraints, Posey was found partially at fault for his fatal injury.

In addition to probation, Posey was given 400 hours of community service.

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