EAST POINT, Ga. — An emergency room nurse on the front lines in the battle against the coronavirus said smash-and-grab thieves broke into his car while he was at work trying to save lives.
Channel 2′s Michael Seiden learned that the incident happened in a secure employee parking deck at Wellstar Atlanta Medical South in East Point on Saturday night.
Police are reviewing surveillance video, hoping they can identify the thieves who broke into the car.
An ER nurse told me that he was literally treating a critically injured patient when he got word that someone had broke into his car. The thief shattered his window before popping his hood and stealing his car battery. Police still working to identify suspect (s). pic.twitter.com/bSZt9miD59
— Michael Seiden (@SeidenWSBTV) April 6, 2020
The nurse asked not to be identified but said that hospital workers are already under enough stress and this is the last thing he needed to worry about during his 12-hour shift.
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"To be honest, my first thought was: 'Wow! So this is the thanks I get!'" he told Seiden.
The thieves stole the nurse's car battery.
"I got a call from police that my car had been broken into," the nurse said. “I was in the room with a critical patient, and once I kind of got him stabilized and had a second to step away, one of the other nurses kept an eye on that patient so I could run out and see how bad it was."
With no battery left in his car, the nurse had no choice but to call his wife. She picked him up in the middle of the night.
Despite what happened, he said he's still determined to serve his community.
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“I just think it’s extra bad to be doing it to someone who is literally risking their lives day in and day out for the community and the community I serve," the nurse said. "It's not even somewhere else. It's in the community I'm currently serving. That's what's so upsetting."
The nurse said that in addition to surveillance cameras, there's also a security guard on campus. He said he heard the thieves may have hit other cars.
Seiden is working to get more information from East Point police but hasn’t heard back.
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