West Hartford police have arrested a West Hartford caregiver after an 88-year-old woman she was responsible for disappeared for hours and was found suffering from hypothermia.
Police said Salomat Nishonova, 59, of Brooklyn, New York, lied to officers about when she last saw Raisa Shnitman, an 88-year-old woman suffering from dementia.
According to investigators, Nishonova waited at least two hours before calling the woman’s family to report her missing.
Police responded to the Alfred E. Plant senior housing complex, a West Hartford Housing Authority property at 759 Farmington Ave., just before 6:30 a.m., according to a report from police.
As they reviewed surveillance footage, they determined that Nishonova had lied to police when cameras showed Shnitman walking away from the Plant Senior Housing Complex, at 759 Farmington Ave., around 3 a.m., according to West Hartford police.
Police canvassed the area and Officer Steven Morehouse found Shnitman behind 784 Farmington Ave. around 9:30 a.m., six and a half hours after cameras showed she disappeared.
Shnitman, who police said only speaks Russian, was lying on a snow bank and hurt.
She was suffering from hypothermia and her hand and foot were cut, according to police.
Nishonova was arrested and charged with one count each of reckless endangerment in the second degree and interfering with an officer.
Shnitman was transported to St. Francis Hospital for treatment.
