For Immediate Release
Contact: Dan Lutz, 347.835.3429
BROOKLYN, September 5, 2012 — Four weeks after the assault that sent her to the emergency room, psychiatric nurse Eurica Walters-Rodney, RN, is still waiting to hear back from the New York Police Department’s 79th Precinct – and her assailant is still a free man.
On August 10 at Brooklyn’s Woodhull Medical Center, a psychiatric patient jumped the counter, put Rodney into a chokehold, twisted her neck, and sent her to the emergency room.
The attack left Rodney with scars on her face. She is on a leave of absence from work.
As she was being wheeled to the emergency room, she told New York City Hospital Police that she wanted to press charges against her assailant. They did nothing, and so Rodney took her case to the NYPD’s 79th Precinct.
Under New York state law, assaulting a nurse is a Class D felony – the same as assaulting a police officer.
Police at the 79th Precinct promised to do an investigation, but four weeks later they have not started their investigation. They repeatedly asked Rodney why Hospital Police took no action.
“I’ve been hit before,” said Rodney. “But this was the first time blood was shed.”
At the hospital, union nurses are demanding a meeting with hospital police and the 79th Precinct. Their message: it's time to take violence against nurses seriously.
“Nurses deserve the protection of the law. This sends the wrong message to nurses and to our patients – it teaches people that they can hurt a nurse and get away with it.”
The New York State Nurses Association is the voice for nursing in the Empire State. With more than 37,000 members, it is New York’s largest professional association and union for registered nurses. The association represents registered nurses, and some all-professional bargaining units, in New York and New Jersey. It supports nurses and nursing practice through education, research, legislative advocacy, and collective bargaining.
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