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Blind Mother Allegedly Beat By Her Son Speaks Out

FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) - A Ft. Lauderdale man is in jail charged with beating his blind mother.

James Jackson, 52, was arrested for battery on a person 65 years or older.

Police say Jackson got into a confrontation with his 89 year old mother, Idella Boyd, inside their small Ft. Lauderdale apartment on NW 14th Avenue.

"He slapped me on the face and knocked me down, and locked me where I couldn't come out, I was hollering and hollering," Boyd told CBS4's Joan Murray.

Boyd has bruises about her face and said it is still 'numb.'

She said she became upset that her son was hanging around with a man she considered a bad influence.  But she never expected he would start hitting her.

"If I had done something, but I didn't do anything," she said.

Police arrested Jackson.

"It's such an unspeakable crime.  You have someone who cannot see.  This is your mother, someone who took care of you your entire life and you are going to strike her," said Det. Deanna Greenlaw of the Ft. Lauderdale Police Department.

Jackson had no reaction when he faced a bond court judge on the charges Tuesday morning.

He had been arrested before for aggravated assault and the judge ordered him held without bond for violating probation.

Idella Boyd says she thinks her son needs mental health counseling and she hopes he gets it soon.

"I think because he has never done anything like that before," said Boyd.

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