SEATTLE — A patient accused of destroying a trauma room at Harborview Medical Center will remain in custody after a judge set bail at $250,000.
Seattle police were called to the hospital’s emergency department Saturday morning as the suspect broke an oxygen line and tried to light a fire, which could’ve caused an explosion.
Court documents detail the destruction the patient, identified as Steven Sauro, 29, caused at Harborview. Hospital staff says Sauro became enraged that he was about to be discharged with only splints to help heal his wrist injury and started destroying a trauma room in the emergency department.
According to court documents, Sauro started throwing items, and security locked him in the room for everyone’s safety, but when they saw he had broken an oxygen line and was starting to light items on fire, security rushed back in to put out the fire and restrain him.
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Police also witnessed him spitting at and kicking hospital staff, and Sauro had to be restrained and sedated. According to the initial investigation, hospital staff estimates the damages could total more than $100,000, and the damage rendered the trauma room unusable.
Hospital security found two lighters on Sauro and handed them over to the police for evidence. He was booked into the King County jail for malicious mischief, assault, and arson.
At the suspect’s bail hearing on Monday, his defense attorney tried to argue for his release, but because of the damage done and the suspect’s criminal history, the judge said it was too dangerous to just release him without setting bail.
“It’s pretty clear to me Mr. Sauro needs a lot of help,” the judge said. “Not just a lot of property damage but total disruption of Harborview, which is one of the only level one emergency centers around, and so that has a huge impact.”
In court, prosecutors said Sauro has three active cases in Washington state for harassment, malicious mischief, and assault, with additional criminal charges on his record from out of state.
“At this point, especially seeing the escalating pattern every six months, and then seeing the report, I just think it’s too dangerous for society to do, and I just can’t,” the judge explained as his reasons for not allowing Sauro to be released without setting bail.
As far as who’s on the hook to pay for those damages, the King County Prosecutor’s Office tells KOMO News there are options for a restitution order from the court requiring a defendant to pay back damages, but only after there’s a criminal conviction down the line.
“Those restitution orders can last for a long time; the question is, if one is ordered by a court eventually with a conviction, will somebody be able to pay?” Casey McNerthney, a spokesperson for the King County Prosecutor’s Office, said. “That’s a question that is still pretty far down the road.”
In court on Monday, Sauro’s defense attorney mentioned he is considered indigent and unable to post bail.
A judge has ordered that Sauro not have an incendiary device as the case moves forward, or have any contact with Harborview Medical Center unless he is seeking treatment.
