Last Tuesday, two psychiatric ward nurses at Harborview Medical Center were reportedly attacked by patients on the same day. This isn't particularly unusual—psych ward nurses and other mental health caretakers often turn up in police reports. But the attacks raise a few questions about the safety of caregivers. Was Tuesday a freak outlier? Or are psych wards in need of greater security?

On May 3, at 8:08 a.m., Officer Alan Laina, Jr. of the East Precinct was dispatched to the hospital's emergency room. According to the police report, at 6:00 a.m. a psychiatric ward nurse had "smelled an odor of burning coming from [a patient's] bed." When she went to check on the patient—who was in three-point restraints, leaving one arm free—she realized that he was "attempting to free himself by burning off one of his leg restraints with a cigarette lighter."

The nurse told police that she grabbed the patient's arm and ordered him to stop when "without warning [he] punched [her] in the right side of her face," the report states.

When questioned by police, the patient, who only speaks Russian, said through a translator that he didn't assault the nurse. The report notes that since the suspect was a psych patient, he couldn't be arrested. Hospital security were notified to contact police when he is discharged.

Approximately 10 hours later, officers were dispatched again to Harborview's emergency room in response to another reported patient attack on a nurse. The nurse explained to East Precinct officers Doug Raguso and Jamin Dobson that the attack occurred when she was discharging a patient at the beginning of her shift. As she checked the patient's vitals, she began to feel very uncomfortable, telling the officers that she "could not describe any specific reason, other than her sixth sense told her something was not right with him."

Here was her first clue: the patient was "sitting on the floor of the unit, with his pillowcase over his head," according to the report.

Suddenly, "a quick movement by an unknown orange object (later identified as scissors placed into SPD Evidence section) is what caught her eye." The report notes that the patient was "motioning with the scissors that he was attempting to cut his wrists," and like any good psychiatric nurse, she and another hospital worker "ran into the room with [the patient] and attempted to gain control of the scissors and [the patient]."

As she wrestled the scissors away, "he reached up and grabbed [her] by the throat, applying 'a lot' of pressure and causing pain, 'strangling' her," states the police report. The nurse and the other hospital worker estimated that the attempted asphyxiation last five seconds.

Police don't appear to have questioned the suspect—he isn't quoted in the report. However, officers note that the victim was, "visibly upset, crying, and emotional," as she described the incident.

When asked if she could recall what her thoughts were during the attack, the victim "took a moment to respond, her eyes watering with fresh tears, and replied 'Fuck.'" She said she was panicked. She "described the look on the [suspect's] face while he was strangling her as that of anger, animalistic rage, and out of control. [She] stated she felt [he] was a threat to her life as he was strangling her."

The suspect was discharged from the psych ward and taken into custody.

Fuck is right.