Inset: Jimmy Alexis (Broward County Sheriff”s Office). Background: The Genuine Love and Care assisted living facility in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (WTVJ).
A Florida man working at an assisted living facility that cared for adults has been accused of killing a patient.
Jimmy Alexis, 43, was charged with manslaughter in connection with the death of 26-year-old Jason Similien. Miami-based NBC affiliate WTVJ reported that Alexis was arrested Tuesday, more than three years after Similien died at the Genuine Love and Care assisted living facility in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on June 30, 2023. According to an arrest affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime, police were called to the facility when Similien was found unresponsive early that morning.
Alexis, who was on duty that morning and the night before, told police that Similien, who had autism and experienced anxiety and psychosis, “moves around, and I have to restrain him, not choke him.”
Similien was transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:42 a.m. The medical examiner ruled his manner of death as homicide.
During their investigation, authorities learned from the facility’s medical staff that Similien was “prone to self-injure.” He would reportedly “always bang his head” on several surfaces.
When police spoke to other staff members at the facility, one of them explained, while in tears, that she had witnessed Alexis choke Similien “to the point that he became unconscious.” She said she told Alexis to stop because he was hurting Similien. Police said that when she witnessed Alexis choking Similien a second time, she recorded the audio on her phone.
After that second alleged choking incident, Similien reportedly never regained consciousness.
The staff member told police that Similien was “active” during the early morning hours of June 30, 2023, and was walking around the facility. At 1 a.m., Alexis reportedly told Similien that he had to go back to bed. When Similien did not comply, Alexis “wrapped his arm around [his] neck in a choke hold” while he sat on a blue foam mat on the floor. Similien eventually “passed out.”
At 3 a.m., Similien woke up again and went to a snack closet to look for a cookie, which reportedly made Alexis “frustrated.” Alexis allegedly put Similien in another chokehold until he passed out.
Alexis was questioned by police about the alleged incidents, and he claimed that Similien was “making noises” that would be “disruptive” to the other patients. According to the affidavit, Alexis told police that he restrained Similien “four to five times” that night using “vertical immobilization.”
At 5 a.m., Alexis said, Similien went to bed on his own and fell asleep. When Alexis went to wake him up at 6:45 a.m., he was unresponsive.
Police said they worked with a staff member to make a “controlled call” to Alexis. During that call, Alexis allegedly told the staff member what he was going to tell police and instructed her to say the same thing. Alexis allegedly told the staff member not to mention the facility’s logbook and “not to say too many things that would prompt more questions from the police.”
WTVJ spoke with Adam Finkle, an attorney who is representing Similien’s family, who said there had been several complaints against Alexis made by his former colleagues. Alexis, who no longer works for the facility, was never fired, according to Finkle.
“Jason was actually asking for cookies, and out of frustration and not being trained adequately, and being in there in the first place when he should have been fired, Jimmy Alexis actually choked and killed Jason,” Finkle told WTVJ.
A lawsuit was filed against the facility and its owners on behalf of Similien’s family.
Alexis is currently in custody at the Broward County Jail, where he is being held on $25,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 13.
