By Henry K. Lee
The San Francisco Chronicle
CONTRA COUNTY, Calif. An inmate at the Contra Costa County Jail faked a seizure and hit a nurse in the head with a lamp, badly injuring her, authorities said Tuesday.
The nurse was taken to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek with severe head trauma, authorities said. Her name has not been released.
The incident at the Martinez jail happened about 4:10 p.m. Monday when the inmate, burglary suspect Aaron Nygaard, 34, of El Cerrito showed signs that he was suffering a seizure, said Jimmy Lee, a sheriff’s department spokesman.
The nurse went to see Nygaard, who told her that he had faked the seizure “because he did not want to be in a particular waiting room” in the jail’s intake area, Lee said.
Then, without warning, Nygaard picked up a lamp and hit the nurse in the head, knocking her unconscious, authorities said. When deputies rushed to her aid, the suspect swung the lamp at them, Lee said.
Deputies used a Taser shock weapon, but Nygaard “violently resisted and continued to fight,” Lee said. He was ultimately restrained and sedated.
El Cerrito police had booked Nygaard at the jail at 9 a.m. Monday. He had no criminal history, Sheriff Warren Rupf said.
“There’s nothing obvious that would have raised a red flag,” said Rupf, who expressed anger that “this knucklehead attacked a good person who was trying to help.”
Nygaard was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. His bail was set at more than $1 million.
The nurse is a longtime employee with Contra Costa County Health Services, which provides medical care at the jail under a contract with the sheriff’s office.
“We are deeply troubled by this event,” said Anna Roth, CEO of the county’s Contra Costa Regional Medical Center and Health Centers. “We have not had an event like this in this facility.”
Copyright 2010 San Francisco Chronicle