A Florida caregiver has been arrested more than three years after a 26-year-old man with autism died at an assisted living facility, with investigators alleging the employee repeatedly choked the vulnerable resident because he wouldn’t stay in bed.
The disturbing case centers on Jason Similien, who died on June 30, 2023, at the Genuine Love and Care group home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
According to police, Similien was awake during the early morning hours and looking for something to eat when an employee responsible for his care allegedly became frustrated and placed him in a chokehold.
The allegations are especially troubling because another staff member reportedly witnessed the incidents and secretly recorded audio during one of the encounters.
Now, 43-year-old Jimmy Alexis is facing an aggravated manslaughter charge after investigators concluded Similien’s death was a homicide.
Alexis was arrested Tuesday, October 6, following a lengthy investigation by Fort Lauderdale police and the Broward State Attorney’s Office.
The case has also raised serious questions about the facility’s supervision, employee training and whether earlier complaints could have prevented the tragedy.
According to an arrest affidavit, police were called to the residential care facility after Similien was discovered unresponsive early on June 30, 2023.
Emergency responders transported him to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:42 a.m.
At first, investigators were told that Similien, who had autism and experienced anxiety and psychosis, sometimes engaged in behavior that required staff intervention.
Facility personnel described him as prone to self-injury, including banging his head against walls and other surfaces.
Alexis, who had been working the overnight shift, acknowledged physically restraining Similien but denied choking him.
He told investigators that the resident frequently moved around the facility and sometimes disturbed other patients.
“I have to restrain him, not choke him,” Alexis reportedly told officers.
But another employee provided police with a dramatically different account of what happened that night.
According to investigators, the staff member appeared visibly shaken while speaking with detectives.
She later approached officers outside the facility and told them she wanted to share additional information away from her coworkers.
What she described would become a key part of the criminal investigation.
The woman alleged that she witnessed Alexis choke Similien on two separate occasions, both times causing him to lose consciousness.
The first incident reportedly occurred around 1 a.m.
According to the witness, Similien had been walking around the facility when Alexis ordered him to return to bed.
When the young man did not comply, Alexis allegedly approached him while he was sitting on a blue foam mat.
The employee told investigators that Alexis wrapped an arm around Similien’s neck and held him in a chokehold until he passed out.
She reportedly pleaded with Alexis to stop, warning that he was hurting the resident.
Despite the frightening encounter, Similien eventually regained consciousness.
But approximately two hours later, another confrontation allegedly unfolded.
At around 3 a.m., Similien reportedly got out of bed and walked toward a snack closet.
He was looking for a cookie.
According to the witness, Alexis became frustrated that the resident was awake again and attempted to force him back to bed.
The employee alleged that Alexis placed Similien in another chokehold, once again rendering him unconscious.
This time, the witness secretly recorded audio of the incident on her cellphone.
Police say the recording captured the resident making choking and moaning sounds.
Investigators were later allowed to listen to the recording, which became part of the evidence in the case.
According to the arrest affidavit, Similien never regained consciousness after the second alleged choking incident.
Alexis, however, offered a different timeline.
During questioning, he reportedly told detectives that he had restrained Similien approximately four or five times that night using a technique he described as “vertical immobilization.”
He claimed the resident had been making noises that could disturb other people living at the facility.
Alexis also told investigators that Similien eventually returned to bed around 5 a.m. and fell asleep on his own.
According to his account, he discovered the young man unresponsive when he attempted to wake him at approximately 6:45 a.m.
Investigators began questioning whether that explanation matched the witness testimony and other evidence.
The medical examiner ultimately ruled Similien’s death a homicide in November 2023, although the specific medical cause of death was redacted from the publicly reported arrest documents.
Detectives also arranged a monitored telephone conversation between Alexis and the employee who claimed to have witnessed the choking incidents.
During the call, Alexis allegedly discussed what he planned to tell police and encouraged the employee to provide a similar account.
Investigators say he specifically warned her against mentioning the facility’s logbook or certain details about the foam mat where Similien had been sitting.
He also allegedly cautioned her against providing too much information that might lead investigators to ask additional questions.
Those statements became another significant element of the investigation.
But the allegations against Alexis have also brought scrutiny to the assisted living facility itself.
Adam Finkle, an attorney representing Similien’s family, claims that concerns about Alexis had been raised by other employees before the fatal incident.
According to Finkle, several former coworkers had complained about Alexis, but he was never terminated.
The attorney argues that the tragedy could have been prevented if those concerns had been taken seriously.
“Jason was actually asking for cookies,” Finkle told NBC6 while describing the circumstances surrounding the alleged assault.
He accused Alexis of responding to the resident’s behavior with excessive physical force instead of appropriate care.
Finkle also questioned why Alexis had continued working at the facility if earlier complaints had been made about his conduct.
The family has filed a separate civil lawsuit against the group home and its owners, alleging failures in the care and protection of their loved one.
Those claims remain subject to the civil legal process and have not been established as findings of wrongdoing.
The allegations are particularly concerning because Similien lived at a specialized residential facility intended to provide support to adults with disabilities and additional care needs.
Such facilities are responsible for maintaining safe environments, properly supervising residents and ensuring employees understand how to respond to challenging behaviors without putting vulnerable individuals at risk.
Physical restraint can carry serious medical dangers, particularly when pressure is applied to the neck or breathing is restricted.
Disability advocates have long emphasized the importance of appropriate staff training, careful supervision and alternatives to dangerous restraint techniques.
For Similien’s family, the circumstances surrounding his death have raised painful questions about whether the facility did enough to protect him.
Finkle said the group home was familiar with Jason’s needs and the difficulties he sometimes experienced.
He argued that staff should have been prepared to respond safely when the young man became restless or sought food during the night.
Instead, prosecutors allege that the employee responsible for watching him used physical force that contributed to his death.
After more than three years of investigation, Fort Lauderdale police obtained a warrant for Alexis’ arrest.
The department’s Fugitive Unit located him on October 6 and took him into custody.
He appeared in court the following day, where his attorney questioned why authorities had waited so long to bring charges.
The defense lawyer described the timing of the arrest as unusual and emphasized that Alexis denies the allegations.
Alexis was initially held at the Broward County Jail on a $25,000 bond. Subsequent local reporting indicated that he posted bond.
He is expected to return to court as the criminal case proceeds, with an October 13 hearing reported in the initial coverage.
The charge involves aggravated manslaughter of a disabled adult, a serious felony under Florida law.
Unlike a murder charge, manslaughter does not necessarily require prosecutors to establish that the defendant intended to kill someone. The specific elements prosecutors must prove depend on the statute under which the charge was filed.
Meanwhile, the civil lawsuit against the group home and its owners remains a separate legal matter.
NBC6 reported that it contacted representatives of the facility for comment but had not received a response.
The criminal allegations have not been proven in court, and Alexis is presumed innocent unless convicted.
For Similien’s family, however, the arrest represents an important development in their yearslong effort to obtain answers about what happened inside the facility during his final night.
Jason was just 26 years old.
He was living in a place where trained caregivers were supposed to provide the assistance, supervision and protection he needed.
Instead, according to investigators, a routine overnight situation escalated into a fatal encounter.
And what began with a young man reportedly getting out of bed and looking for a cookie has now become a manslaughter case involving allegations of repeated choking, a secret audio recording and serious questions about the safety of vulnerable adults in residential care.
