This article was originally published on goerie.com on August 8, 2017 by Tim Hahn. 

City police accused her of choking and striking a woman with cerebral palsy in July.

Erie police charge that a city woman responsible for the care of a woman with cerebral palsy strangled the woman and struck her repeatedly at a westside apartment in July.

The victim, whose name and age were not released, was taken to Saint Vincent Health Center with bruises to her head, neck, left arm and leg on July 19, a day after police charge that 26-year-old Erie resident Qunisha L. Manus inflicted the injuries on the victim at an apartment in the 1000 block of West Fifth Street.

According to information in the criminal complaint, Manus was employed by Voices for Independence as a caregiver for the victim and was responsible for her care on July 18 between 3 and 9 p.m. The victim told police that Manus pulled her ear and her hair and told her to scream; placed the victim on the floor and told the victim to pray; and placed the victim in the victim’s hospital bed, where Manus would walk up to the victim and slap her in the head throughout the night.

The victim said she was slapped more than 20 times with an open hand. She also told police that Manus unplugged the victim’s electric hospital bed and wrapped the cord around the victim’s neck before Manus left the residence, Erie police Detective Sgt. Chris Janus wrote in the affidavit of probable cause filed with the criminal complaint.

Janus said he interviewed the victim on July 21 and observed recent injuries to the victim’s head and left arm. He said he also viewed photographs taken by a city police officer that showed ligature marks around the victim’s neck, “which further corroborates (the victim’s) description of what happened,” Janus wrote in the affidavit.

The victim is nonverbal and is confined to an electric wheelchair, and uses a “talk board” and points to the letters and words to communicate, according to Janus.

Janus said he additionally heard several voice messages that Manus left on the victim’s answering machine, in which Manus apologized to the victim. In one of the messages, Manus tells the victim “to keep it to herself,” Janus wrote in the affidavit.

Manus was arraigned Tuesday afternoon by Erie 3rd Ward District Judge Tom Carney on felony counts of strangulation, aggravated assault and intimidation of a witness; and on misdemeanor counts of simple assault, recklessly endangering and possessing an instrument of crime. She was placed in the Erie County Prison on $300,000 bond.