Paralyzed woman brutally beaten by man who stole her pain meds, Missouri family says

A Missouri family is traumatized after a man reportedly broke into a partially paralyzed mother’s home and brutally beat her on Saturday.

Rachel Harris says a man broke in through the back door of her 47-year-old mother’s Independence home on Saturday afternoon, KCTV reported.

The man began beating her mother, a stroke survivor who is partially paralyzed and cannot speak, Harris wrote in a Facebook post. She said her mother was “completely defenseless.”

“[He] started beating on my mom. Basically, knocked her to the ground. Took her rings off her fingers,” Harris said, according to KCTV.

The man also stole $20 and the woman’s pain medication, according to the news station.

Harris says the man beat her mother with “his fists and a towel hook,” causing a number of facial fractures, a black eye and bruising, WDAF reported. She received stitches and may require facial surgery.

“There wasn’t a reason to beat her,” Rachel said, according to WDAF. “He could’ve just taken her stuff and left. She wouldn’t have been able to do anything at all.”

Harris says she and her family know who attacked her mother.

“My mother was shown photos of a few different people. She was able to point this man out,” Harris wrote in the post. “When shown these photos, she became completely distraught and fearful. She did not have the same reaction with any of the other photos. She was then able to say ‘that’s him.’”

No one has been charged in the crime and Harris says her mother is afraid to go back to the home, but police are investigating the attack, WDAF reported.

This story was originally published August 6, 2019 at 8:46 AM with the headline "Paralyzed woman brutally beaten by man who stole her pain meds, Missouri family says."