Second person arrested following death of patient living on state assistance in Lubbock | KLBK | KAMC

LUBBOCK, Texas — A second person, Natalie Betancurt, 23, was arrested Tuesday in connection with the death of a patient at the Lubbock State Supported Living Center, the Lubbock Police Department said.

The Texas Anti-Gang Center is located in Betancurt in the 1000 block of 140th Street.

On June 2, officers were called to the scene around 8 p.m. due to allegations of mistreatment of a resident who arrived at Covenant Medical Center with life-threatening injuries. Throughout their investigation, police discovered that Derrick Bell, 36, had assaulted Paul Reed, 53, early that morning. His condition deteriorated and he ultimately died on the night of June 5, LPD said.

According to court records, a staff member told the incident management director that Bell was responsible for Reed's injuries. Bell and an employee told this staff member that they both had to go to work “to change the logbooks of the [Reed’s] treatment.” An affidavit states the employee helped Bell clean a blood-stained item.

“I hope I didn’t hit him too hard,” Bell said.

Bell was arrested without incident on June 5 and booked into the Lubbock County Detention Center on a charge of injury to a disabled person and was being held on $100,000 bond. Betancurt was also booked into LCDC for injury to a disabled person and was being held on $100,000 bail.

LPD said the assault remains under investigation.