Union County deputies are shown near the emergency room entrance at Memorial Hospital today as they assisted in attempts to bring a combative patient under control. The man had slipped his restraints and climbed into the ceiling and had instigated a three-hour standoff on Monday.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Will Channell)
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For the second time in two days, police have been called to Memorial hospital.
On Monday, a man was taken to Memorial Hospital, 500 London Ave., and barricaded himself in a room. On Tuesday, the same man was able to get loose and climbed into the hospital’s ceiling.
The Journal-Tribune learned from multiple individuals with knowledge of the situation that the man’s name was Anthony Lagos, 38, of Marion. While law enforcement and hospital officials would not confirm the name, when asked, hospital spokesperson Melanie Ziegler said a man by that name “is being treated at Memorial Hospital.”
Ziegler said the hospital “cannot provide you with any information at all regarding a patient.”
Police were initially called to the hospital at 11:48 a.m. Monday. According to a report, the caller said a male patient was “creating a disturbance and was not cooperating with hospital staff.”
“When officers arrived, the subject barricaded himself in a room in the Intensive Care Unit,” said Tony Brooks, Deputy Chief of the Marysville Division of Police.
Brooks said the man, “threatened to infect first responders with a communicable disease if we came in the room.”
Police officials would not say what disease the man claimed to have but said, “whatever it is, we are going to take precautions when it comes to that.”
Additional responding officers were able to set up a perimeter and contained the subject inside the room. Brooks said the man held police at bay with the threat. He said a total of 13 police officers and five deputies from the Union County Sheriff’s Office responded.
“We used all of our on-duty resources and had to call in our (second shift) guys to handle our calls for service,” Brooks said.
Sheriff Jamie Patton said he was at the scene “in a support role.” He said his deputies created, “a second layer of security outside the ICU room.
“If that individual were able to break through the first line of defenses, we certainly did not want him to be loose in the hospital,” Patton said.
Crisis negotiators were called to the scene and spoke with the man. Police said at about 1:49 p.m., the man “surrendered to officers without incident.”
“Our guys did a great job of talking him out of there without needing to use physical force,” said Brooks.
At about 8:53 a.m., today, police were called to the hospital on a call of an out of control patient.
“The subject from yesterday was able to slip his restraints and climbed into the ceiling,” Brooks said.
Brooks said once police arrived today, the man was “compliant.”
“We were able to get him back into his restraints without any issues,” Brooks said.
Police said no charges have been filed, though they could be “forthcoming.” Brooks said the man was kept at Memorial Hospital not for mental evaluation but “due to his physical health.”
Ziegler said, “the safety of our patients and staff is of primary importance at Memorial.”
“We have processes and procedures in place, which are often subject to drills and training, to optimally manage circumstances related to an uncooperative patient,” she said.
Ziegler explained, “Isolating the physical space of these challenges is one step in this process.”
“Assuring the safety of other patients is another, including temporary relocation of patients in the area, if necessary,” Ziegler said.
She said the “ongoing care of all patients in all areas of the hospital continues” even in the difficult situations.
She said the hospital can bring in staff or shift staff between departments.
“We have security personnel on premise 24/7 and the ability to call in law enforcement for assistance, as needed,” Ziegler said.
Lagos was taken to the hospital after a Monday morning issue in Richwood.
At about 2:13 a.m., Monday, an officer with the Richwood Police Department saw a “suspicious” man and his dog at North Union High School.
“It appeared to me that (the man) was highly intoxicated on some type of narcotic or suffered from some type of mental illness,” wrote Richwood Police Officer Alfred Blevins.
The officer said the man was “yelling loudly.” When the officer confronted him, the man said he was cold.
“I noticed that he had cuts on his face, a bloody nose, mud on his knees, a wet jacket and weeds on him,” according to a police report.
The officer asked the man his name, “and he seemed very confused.”
“He stated that he was extremely cold and that he didn’t know his name,” according to the report.
The man gave police a name and three social security numbers, none of which came back to the name the man gave.
The officer checked the man for weapons and, at his request, put the man in the police car. Medics arrived at the scene to evaluate him and he would not give his name.
“He was either lying or highly under the influence of drugs,” the deputy wrote.
The man was taken to Memorial Hospital.
While he was at the hospital, the officer took the dog to the police station and checked its registration.
The dog warden eventually took the dog and gave police the owner’s name.