Man facing assault charges after nurse attacked at Montreal hospital

FILE: Quebec flag (Photo: mararie/Flickr)

MONTREAL — A 25-year-old man is facing assault charges after allegedly trying to strangle a nurse at the Montreal General Hospital, police said Sunday.

Montreal police spokesman Benoit Boisselle said police were called at about 3:30 a.m. on Saturday to an area of the hospital reserved for psychiatric patients.

Boisselle said the patient, who had been admitted earlier that evening, allegedly attacked a 34-year-old nurse and tried to choke her.

“For a reason that has yet to be determined, (the suspect) assaulted the nurse and used physical violence towards her,” he said.

“A patient attendant came to help her colleague, and the individual did the same thing to her.”

Both victims were hospitalized with non-life-threatening upper-body injuries.

The man was arrested and is expected to appear in court on Tuesday to be charged with assault.

Boisselle said the suspect does not have a criminal record.

A spokesman for the hospital said that while there was security on duty at the entrance to the emergency room, the psychiatric emergency unit only had a separate guard during the day and evening.

Richard Fahey said the hospital has stationed a security guard there around the clock until further notice.

He said that while the emergency protocol worked and the patient was subdued, the hospital will re-evaluate its policies in the coming days.

“We will be reviewing and debriefing fully on the matter, and maybe identify areas of improvement for the future,” he said in a phone interview.