Charges Dropped Against Former Patient Shot in Texas Hospital
The charges stemmed from a controversial incident between a psychotic patient and two security officers.
Alan Pean faced two felony assault charges as a result of his actions during a psychotic episode.
Felony assault charges against a man who attacked two police officers working security at a Texas hospital were dropped March 11 by a grand jury.
Alan Pean, 27, attacked the two officers during a psychotic episode inside Houston’s St. Joseph Medical Center on Aug. 27, 2015.
The officers said Pean threw a hospital tray at them and flailed his fists. In response, the officers used a Taser against Pean and then one officer shot him in the chest, missing his heart by inches. Pean spent four days in intensive care following the shooting.
The Houston Police Department conducted an internal investigation into the shooting and determined that the officers’ actions were justified. A grand jury also chose not to indict the officers following the incident.
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Pean said his family spent more than $100,000 in his defense and has filed a civil rights complaint alleging discrimination due to mental illness and race, according to the New York Times.
The controversial incident and the hospital’s response to it led to federal health officials’ decision to cut all Medicare and Medicaid funding to the facility in November. That extremely rare decision would have almost certainly closed the hospital down, but hospital officials were able to work with regulators on a plan to correct hospital deficiencies in exchange for restoring the federal funding.
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