Milwaukee: Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital Security Officer Stabbed
Columbia St. Mary’s was sued in 2020 after a woman was stabbed more than a dozen times in a parking garage.
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MILWAUKEE — A security officer at a Wisconsin hospital was stabbed by a patient early Monday morning.
Just after 6 a.m., Milwaukee Police received a call that a man had stabbed a Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital employee, who was later confirmed to be a security officer, reports Fox 6. The 46-year-old officer was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and has since been released.
The officer was injured during an altercation with the 18-year-old suspect in the emergency department, located at 2301 N. Lake Drive. Police were on scene “almost immediately” and took the suspect into custody, according to a statement from the hospital. No one else was injured.
Criminal charges will be referred to the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office in the upcoming days.
Columbia St. Mary’s Sued for 2020 Stabbing
Columbia St. Mary’s was sued in 2020 by a woman who was stabbed more than a dozen times by a stranger in the hospital’s parking garage in 2018, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The attacker knocked her down, repeatedly stabbed her in the head, chest, abdomen, and arms, and kicked her in the head and face, knocking out several teeth and collapsing both of her lungs.
The suit alleges the attack lasted 10 minutes and that nobody from the Columbia St. Mary’s security staff intervened. It also alleges the hospital had no security officers stationed in the garage and no operating surveillance cameras.
Furthermore, the lawsuit claims the hospital was aware of previous incidents on the campus and crime in the surrounding neighborhood but did not take proper security precautions.
In May 2019, the Journal Sentinel hired a building security consulting company to assess eight parking garages in five Milwaukee-area hospitals, including Columbia St. Mary’s. The company determined two of its parking garages, including where the woman was stabbed in 2018, had inconsistent and shadowy lighting. In some areas, the lighting was 30 times lower than the industry standard. An out-of-order emergency call box was also found.
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About the Author
Amy Rock, Executive Editor
Amy is Campus Safety’s Executive Editor. Prior to joining the editorial team in 2017, she worked in both events and digital marketing.
Amy has many close relatives and friends who are teachers, motivating her to learn and share as much as she can about campus security. She has a minor in education and has worked with children in several capacities, further deepening her passion for keeping students safe.
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