ATLANTA — A 24-year-old man accused of attempting to sexually assault a woman who had been recovering at Grady Memorial Hospital after she suffered a stroke told police that he was high on crack when he slipped into the patient’s room last week.
On Sept. 27, Shamon Pearce told Atlanta police that he was “high and smoking drugs” and “trying something new” when he walked into a 47-year-old woman’s room, got naked and attempted to sexually assault her before she woke up and found him on top of her.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Pearce remained behind bars at the Fulton County Jail where he’s being held without bond on charges of aggravated assault, battery and misdemeanor sexual battery. It’s unclear if he’s retained an attorney.
It was just after 4:30 p.m. on Friday when police say Pearce walked into Grady, hopped onto an elevator and began smoking his crack pipe in front of several nurses who reported what happened to security.
As hospital staff waited for security to arrive, Pearce managed to slip into a hospital room where a 47-year-old stroke patient was recovering.
The woman told police that when she woke up, she saw Pearce trying to put a sheet over her head. She added that when she asked what Pearce was doing, he got aggressive and then climbed on top of her and told her to remain quiet and not to move, police confirmed.
“She then realized what he was doing,” the reporting officer wrote in his report. “She began moving and telling him to get off her and they both fell off the bed. She tried to scream for someone to help.”
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Police say one of the nurses heard a commotion that sounded like somebody falling and when she entered the room, she jumped into action.
“She (nurse) captured images from her phone while calling for other nurses to respond,” according to an APD incident report. “The (nurses) attempted to lock Mr. Pearce inside the room to prevent him from escaping, however, he was too strong and overpowered them. Mr. Pearce then exited the room and ran down the hall naked. The nurses ran after him until they lost him going down the stairs.”
Investigators reviewed surveillance video that showed Pearce on the basement floor of the hospital where he hid inside a trash can for over an hour.
The video also showed him putting on a used hospital gown before he left through a basement exit.
Police eventually found him hiding out under a bridge near the hospital.
Crime scene investigators searched the victim’s hospital room, where they recovered the suspect’s clothes and his suspected crack pipe.
Following his arrest, Pearce told investigators that he had fallen ill and had just gotten out of the hospital hours before the attack.
“As I began to walk out, he stated that he was in the hospital and that he had tackled Shawty, he got on the bed with her and rolled over on her, he was high and smoking drugs and he was just trying something new,” according to the incident report.
Channel 2′s Michael Seiden reached out to Grady Memorial Hospital, trying to find out how this could’ve happened and what security measures are being taken to prevent this from happening again in the future, but a spokesperson declined to answer those questions, citing the ongoing investigation.
“An alleged sexual assault occurred,” according to the statement released on behalf of the Grady administration. “The suspect was quickly apprehended and is in police custody. Atlanta Police Department should be contacted for further information as this is an ongoing investigation.”
On the same day, a murder suspect receiving treatment at Grady escaped custody.
APD told Channel 2 Action News that 32-year-old Carwon Marqavious Redding was under the custody of the Atlanta City Detention Center when he escaped from Grady.
As of Wednesday, he remains on the run.
Redding was initially arrested in connection to a homicide back in April of this year. He faces charges of felony murder and selling cocaine. Police said Redding may be naked or wearing different clothes.
Anyone who sees Redding is asked to contact Atlanta police.
“The existing policy for inmates under treatment at the hospital is that the custodial law enforcement agency must have one-to-one oversight of them at all times,” according to the statement released on behalf of Grady’s administration.
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