Nurse sexually assaulted during hostage ordeal at Geneva hospital, lawsuit says

GENEVA, Ill. (SUN TIMES MEDIA WIRE) - Two nurses at a Geneva hospital who were held hostage by a Kane County inmate earlier this month are suing the county, alleging sheriff’s guards at the hospital fell asleep on the job, used laptops and unshackled the inmate to use the bathroom unsupervised.

A lawyer for the two nurses also said one of them was tortured, sexually assaulted and had a gun held to her head for three hours in a dark hospital room before a swat team shot the inmate at Delnor Hospital.

“This is something that never should have happened,” said the Chicago lawyer for the nurses, Sean Murray.

The nurses did not attend the press conference and are referred to as “Jane Doe” in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

The incident occurred May 13, when inmate Tywon Salters was at the hospital for surgery. Attorneys for the nurses say Salters was left unrestrained when he wrestled a 9 mm handgun from the sheriff’s deputy there to guard him. The deputy then ran from the room and hid elsewhere, doing nothing to get his gun back, according to the nurses’ lawyer.