Man removed from North Las Vegas hospital loses battery trial
A patient who was thrown out of North Vista Hospital in his underwear was found guilty of battery, despite video of the incident disappearing and the hospital worker at the center of the dispute not showing up to court.
The scuffle happened Nov. 26, 2017, after David McCovy, a former school employee, was taken by ambulance to North Vista for a severe panic attack. McCovy claims he was discharged 30 minutes later without seeing a doctor. When he protested the decision to release him, McCovy said four hospital workers carried him out to a parking lot, slammed him to the ground and punched him in the eye.
McCovy was arrested and charged with two gross misdemeanor battery charges. North Las Vegas Justice Court Chief Judge Kalani Hoo on Thursday found him guilty of one misdemeanor, but cleared him of the second charge.
McCovy’s sentence included four days in jail, a stipulation to prove that he is getting medical treatment for anxiety and was given an order to “stay out of trouble” for 60 days.
A hospital surveillance video that captured the incident vanished, despite it being requested by the Clark County District Attorney’s Office and McCovy’s lawyer. Deputy District Attorney Susan Benedict said her office was told the hospital taped over it.
“This is not someone who said they have a cold,” Ben Saxe, McCovy’s public defender, said in court. “This is someone who has suffered from panic attacks in the past and he was there – in his underwear – brought to the hospital in an ambulance.”
Saxe said Tuesday he will appeal the judge’s decision.
McCovy was found guilty of pushing Anthony Foster — a certified nurse assistant who didn’t show up to court despite being subpoenaed — after he and three others removed McCovy from the hospital’s emergency department.
“Once they carried me out of the hospital, they threw me and tossed me to the ground,” McCovy testified. “Four guys were lined up like a wall … and as I tried to move past them, they were pushing me. I got punched in my left eye and then slammed and taken to the ground.”
Benedict called McCovy’s story “absolutely ludicrous.”
“We all might agree that maybe 30 minutes isn’t enough time in the hospital if someone is saying they’re still undergoing this medical episode,” she said. “But the defendant’s story makes absolutely no sense.”
Nurse Kimberly Cortes, behavioral health tech Julian Mixson and security officer Jonathan Kabrin testified that Foster was pushed, but Benedict couldn’t prove that McCovy elbowed Mixson, the other battery charge.
The hospital did not respond to a request for comment.
McCovy, 23, worked for the Clark County School District as a driver for special education students. He had no criminal record before going to North Vista Hospital.
Benedict tried to tack on an another misdemeanor charge against McCovy on the day of the trial, raising alarm from McCovy’s defense team who called it “trial by ambush.”
“How are we supposed to defend a charge we didn’t know about?” Saxe said. Benedict shot back by saying it’s “not a complicated charge” and Saxe should be capable of “doing it on the fly.” The judge denied the request to add a new charge.
Contact Ramona Giwargis at rgiwargis@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4538. Follow @RamonaGiwargis on Twitter.
