Excela Health Westmoreland hospital security guard charged with assaulting patient
Greensburg PA Nov 21 2017 A contracted security guard at Excela Health Westmoreland hospital in Greensburg was fired last week and charged by city police for allegedly assaulting a patient in the mental health unit.
Police charged Scott A. Wilson, 23, of Greensburg with neglect of a care-dependent person, criminal attempt, simple assault and harassment in connection with the Nov. 13 incident.
Wilson, who is employed by Allied Universal Security, was among officers summoned to a room at 4:20 a.m. in the hospital’s behavioral health unit on North Spring Street to a report of a 31-year-old female patient becoming “agitated and combative with staff,” Detective John Swank reported in an affidavit of probable cause.
“Staff members reported that Wilson threw (the patient) to the floor and restrained her neck with his arm while slamming her head to the floor with his hand,” Swank reported. “Wilson then stated that he would ‘break’ (the patient’s) arm if she ‘did not hold still.’ ”
The victim has autism and bipolar disorder, Swank wrote. She also has a history of being combative, he said.
Other security officers at the scene instructed Wilson to leave the area, and he was terminated from his position, the affidavit stated.
In a subsequent interview with Swank, Wilson reported that when the victim was admitted to the hospital on Nov. 5 for treatment of self-inflicted injuries, she allegedly punched Wilson in the face in the emergency room, breaking his eyeglasses and scratching his face. Swank reported that Wilson told him that he let “his temper get the best of him.”
Allied Universal Security did not immediately respond to requests for a comment. Excela Health declined to comment on the incident.
Wilson could not be reached. His preliminary hearing is scheduled Dec. 21 before District Judge James Albert.
