Stabbing at Highland Hospital's ER waiting area brings up security concerns
Stabbing at Highland Hospital brings up security questions
There are questiong about the security and safety inside Oaklands Highland Hospital after a man was stabbed over the weekend while standing in the ER waiting area.
OAKLAND, Calif. - A man who says he was stabbed four times while helping an injured friend inside Oakland’s Highland Hospital emergency room is questioning how an attacker managed to bring a knife into the facility.
Stabbed at the ER waiting area
Joshua Parks said he brought a friend to the emergency room around 3 a.m. Saturday after the friend broke a leg. While helping adjust crutches near a wheelchair, Parks said, he was attacked from behind by a man he did not know.
"Next thing I know, somebody just attacked me from behind," Parks said. "I didn’t know I was stabbed initially until the person I was with was trying to tell the nurse my neck was bleeding."
Four puncture wounds
Photos taken Saturday morning show four puncture wounds on Parks’ arm, back and neck. He said one of the wounds was just inches from a major artery.
Parks received treatment for his injuries but said the experience left him shaken, particularly because he was inside a hospital when the attack happened.
"It could have happened to anyone. Somebody’s kid, a nurse," Parks said.
Parks questioned how the attacker was able to enter the hospital with a knife, noting that he has seen a significant security and police presence during previous visits.
"Every time I’ve been to Highland, there’s a grip of security, a grip of police," Parks said. "But evidently that won’t stop somebody from getting a knife in there."
Investigation underway
Oakland police officials said the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office is the lead agency investigating the stabbing. The sheriff's department said it's unknown how the suspect brought a knife into the hospital.
The attacker was identified by the sheriff's department on Monday as 35-year-old Charles Atkinsonrodegers of Oakland. They said the suspect was taken into custody, but not before injuring a hospital security officer who intervened before deputies arrived.
The sheriff's office said the security guard's injury to the side of his head was non-life threatening.
Alameda Health System’s website says its security department investigates hospital incidents, including unsafe conditions and suspicious activity.
Atkinsonrodgers was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, the sheriff's office said. He was booked into the Santa Rita Jail.
"The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office will continue to work collaboratively with our Alameda Health System partners to respond to incidents and support safety at the facility," part of their news release read.
Left feeling insecure
Parks said the attack has left him feeling less secure when he is out in public.
"I look at it as a wake-up call," he said. "I don’t think nobody expects that — going to the hospital to get stabbed in the hospital."