Long Island nurse caught on camera beating disabled 5-year-old — but is only arrested after news aired the video

A Long Island nurse violently slapped his disabled 5-year-old patient multiple times in a vicious caught-on-camera attack — but the abusive caretaker wasn’t arrested until after a local news report aired. 

Bruno Valenzuela, 31, was arrested at his home in Brentwood just after 9 p.m. on Thursday — only hours after News 12 Long Island broadcast the disturbing footage and questioned why an arrest hadn’t been made since Dec. 22, when the beating took place in the family’s Port Jefferson home.

The sick nurse can be first seen with his headphones on, ignoring the child’s cries before eventually checking on the kid — then getting visibly frustrated and unleashing a barrage of violent strikes onto the boy’s chest while yelling at him, according to the video obtained by The Post.  

Bruno Valenzuela, 31, was arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a disabled person and child. SCPD

“It took news reports for the Suffolk police to go and make an arrest for my son,” Christopher Brower, the boy’s father, told The Post late Thursday.

Brower, an NYPD detective familiar with the processes of law enforcement, said he wanted to go public since an arrest hadn’t been made at the time, he said.

The hold up, according to Brower, was that investigators told him they needed to find a doctor to sign a statement saying Valenzuela’s powerful slams that left visible bruises onto the child’s chest were “not medically necessary.”

“I’m a detective. I’ve made over 500 arrests in my lifetime — I’ve never heard that once in my life — you have the whole thing on tape and you’re telling me you need a doctor to tell you that beating and choking my son isn’t medically necessary?” Brower said. 

Brower also alleged that the Special Victims Unit detective on the case had told him he wasn’t sure how quickly things would move because he has other cases to worry about and he’s going on vacation soon. 

“It was like they couldn’t be bothered — I’m embarrassed to say we’re in the same line of work,” he said. 

Valenzuela was fired from his job as a healthcare professional with Christian Nursing Registry. SCPD

Valenzuela, who Brower had said was “like family” before the incident, was fired from his position with Christian Nursing Registry and charged with endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person and endangering the welfare of a child.

“In 38 years, we’ve never had this happen. He was with that family for 3.5 years and had a wonderful rapport with the family and the child,” Camille Harlow, a spokesperson for Christian Nursing Registry, said in a statement to The Post

“Immediately, the nurse was terminated and reported to the state licensing department. The father continues to use our agency. We’re heartbroken. We love this child. We love this family. We are as heartbroken as Mr. Brower,” the agency added. 

He is set to be arraigned in Suffolk County court on Friday. 

The Suffolk County Police Department did not respond to The Post’s request for comment regarding Brower’s allegations.