Wyoming Man Attacks Fellow Patient, Gouges Out Her Eye

A man has been arrested for attacking an elderly woman and gouging out her eye at a hospital in Wyoming.

Patrick Rose, 53, was arrested after he attacked a fellow patient at Lander Sage West Health Care hospital on Nov.26. Rose gouged out the elderly woman's right eye and probably destroyed her left eye, according to the arrest affidavit.

Bryan Potratz, a hospital staff, told police that he saw Rose running into the elderly woman's room and jumping on her "before he could react." Potratz, with the help of another staff, managed to restrain him until the police arrived.

Lander Police department officers arrived at the scene and handcuffed Rose, who had blood on his hands and clothing.

The victim was initially treated in the trauma room of the hospital. The doctors said she suffered serious trauma to the right eye, which included a severed artery that can even result in vision loss. She also had a swollen left eye that was "to the point of bulging out of the socket," according to the court records. The woman was later taken out of the state for further treatment.

Ross appeared in the Lander Circuit Court on Wednesday.

Fremont County Attorney Deputy Dan Stebner described the incident as "troubling and disturbing," reported Star Tribune. He told the court that Rose and the victim were complete strangers. "This was a bizarre incident committed against a complete stranger who'd had no prior involvement or interaction with Mr. Rose," he said, adding that Rose's mental condition was the driving force behind the incident.

Rose, who appeared calm, told the judge he had a traumatic brain injury. Stebner said Rose stopped taking his medications and the incident was an extreme reaction to that.

"People who take psychotropic medications and suffer from mental illness have a tendency to believe they don't need to take the medication and then quit taking them, and then things go wrong from them," Robert Denhardt, Lander Circuit Court Judge, said, reported Associated Press.

Rose was arrested on charges of aggravated assault. If convicted, he could get up to 10 years of sentencing in prison and $10,000 in fines. He was held on a $250,000 cash-only bond at the Fremont County detention center.