CHICAGO (STMW) — A south suburban Harvey man who allegedly punched an emergency room doctor — knocking the doctor’s tooth loose and causing him to fall down — was charged with aggravated battery after the incident late Sunday on the South Side, police said.
Dennis Rushing, 38, of the 15400 block of South Ashland Avenue, was charged at 11:40 p.m. with felony aggravated battery to first aid personnel, according to a Wentworth Area police sergeant.
At 7 p.m. Rushing was in the emergency room at Provident Hospital of Cook County, 500 E. 51st St., for an unidentified injury when he began coughing and allegedly spitting continually into the face of a doctor who was treating him, according to the sergeant.
After the 33-year-old male doctor washed up, he requested that Rushing put on a face mask for the safety of others.
“At this time the man began outraged and began striking the doctor about the face, and he fell to the ground,’’ the sergeant said. The blows knocked the doctor’s tooth loose and caused him to suffer multiple scratches and abrasions to his face, the sergeant said.
The doctor was treated at Provident and hospital security detained Rushing until Chicago Police could arrive and place him under arrest, the sergeant said.
Wentworth Area detectives are investigating.
Read the original article from WBBM News Radio.