Seeking to stay in the hospital, man allegedly pulls knife on hospital security staff

A Shelton man who had just been discharged from Providence St. Peter Hospital was arrested on suspicion of pointing a knife at security personnel because he wanted psychiatric help and did not want to leave the premises.

The 48-year-old suspect was arrested on June 6 after a nurse reported that a just-released patient had pulled a knife on hospital security. Authorities were later informed that security personnel had handcuffed the patient as they waited for police.

One security officer wrote in a report that he was called to respond to an incident involving a male patient.

After hospital personnel confirmed that the patient had been discharged, the officer wrote, staff gave the suspect his belongings and led him to a bathroom where he could change into his clothes.

While the suspect was inside, he opened the bathroom door to say that he was unable to check in to the hospital’s psychiatric building. The security officer recommended solutions to the suspect then asked him to continue getting dressed, the report read.

The patient then “reached into his personal belongings, pulling out a black in color folding pocket knife,” the hospital security said. “Not knowing [his] intentions, I feared for the safety of [the other officer] and myself.”

The two security officers brought out their tasers, according to the report, but the suspect refused to drop his knife and instead walked back into the bathroom. The suspect eventually threw the knife down in the direction of the other officer’s lower body.

The suspect was then handcuffed despite his “active resistance” to the two security personnel.

The other security officer recounted the same sequence of events in his report, adding that the suspect at one point said he wanted to check in to the hospital and that he wasn’t hurting anyone.

An on-duty doctor also told police that she saw the incident unfold, noting that the altercation caused most of her staff to run into back rooms to secure themselves. 

Asked by police why he acted the way he did, the suspect responded, “Because I’m cold” and “I have nowhere to go,” according to one hospital security officer’s account.

The outdoor temperature last Friday evening dropped to 43 degrees Fahrenheit, according to The Weather Channel.

 The suspect was booked into the Thurston County Jail for harassment and drawing, carrying, and displaying a weapon. He was also banned from the hospital’s premises for a year.