COVID-19 Patient Assaults, Spits At Hospital Staff In Michigan, Arrested

A man with COVID-19 was arrested after he spit at and assaulted hospital staff in Pontiac, Michigan, on Friday.

According to Oakland County Sheriff's Office, deputies responded to McLaren-Oakland Hospital around 10.30 p.m. Friday after receiving an assault report. The officers were told an emergency room patient, who was brought for medical treatment after he showed symptoms of coronavirus, assaulted an attending physician and two male nursing staff members.

"When the medical staff attempted to treat the patient, he became argumentative and began to assault them. The patient was then placed in restraints by medical staff and later placed into an isolation room,” the sheriff's office said.

The doctors then began evaluating the patient, identified as 25-year-old Patrick Michael Crawford. The patient "made verbal threats towards them and said that he was infected with the COVID-19 virus and began to spit at the attending physician and emergency room staff," the sheriff's office said.

Crawford eventually tested positive for COVID-19. After he was cleared for incarceration, Crawford was taken into custody. The accused appeared in court Saturday and was charged with four counts of assault and battery and one count of disorderly person.

He was being held in the Oakland County Jail on a $5,000 bond, and was scheduled to appear in court May 26.

According to local reports, the accused had a criminal history. He was previously charged with malicious destruction of property, domestic violence, and resisting/obstructing police.

The incident occurred a month after a Florida man coughed and spat on an officer while he was being arrested for domestic violence. Brent Smith was being arrested for threatening his mother with a butter knife when he “coughed, blew and spit at the arresting deputy and promised to bash his head with a hammer.” He then threatened the officer saying, “I hope you die, I hope you catch corona, I hope the coronavirus, I hope it latches on to you.”

The man was taken into custody and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, assault on a law enforcement officer and aggravated battery on a person 65 or older.