A 31-year-old Willmar man is facing felony charges for reportedly stabbing an employee multiple times Monday while he was under observation at CentraCare-Rice Memorial Hospital.
Darrick M. Whelan was charged with one felony count of second-degree assault and one felony count of third-degree assault Wednesday in Kandiyohi County District Court.
According to court documents, officers were dispatched to the hospital’s emergency room just after 11:30 a.m. Monday for an “out-of-control patient who was being combative.”
The responding officer found hospital staff attempting to secure Whelan in a restraint chair and learned Whelan had stabbed a 53-year-old female employee with a a nine-inch spring-loaded folding knife.
The officer observed several stab wounds on the woman’s left chest, one of which was very deep and gushed blood as he tried to document it.
A security guard in the emergency room said Whelan was acting “pretty shady” and, while Whelan was in a hospital room, started “digging around his back side and grunting, as if he was trying to pull something out of his backside or buttocks,” according to the charges.
Multiple witnesses said Whelan emerged from his room suddenly and immediately attacked the employee, who was sitting in a chair and unable to retreat because the chair was pushed up against medical equipment.
Security footage shows Whelan swinging his arm back toward the security guard who was trying to restrain Whelan, documents state. Once Whelan was restrained, staff stitched up cuts on his left hand. He was then transported to Kandiyohi County Jail.
