Raul Guzman Campos, of Hempstead, charged in hospital attack on NUMC nurse, Nassau police said

A Hempstead man was arrested early Tuesday after police said he attacked a nurse at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow.

The assault took place about 3 a.m. after, Nassau County Police said, the 53-year-old nurse found the suspect, identified as Raul Guzman Campos, 40, damaging ceiling tiles in a hospital bathroom using "an unknown sharp object" — an object, police said, he then used to attack the nurse.

Police said the nurse, checking on Guzman Campos after it was determined he'd been using a hallway bathroom for "an extended period of time," found him damaging the ceiling and confronted him, only to have the man charge her. Police said Guzman Campos not only struck the woman in the back with the sharp object, causing what was described as "a back laceration," but said he chased her — causing her to fall and suffer head trauma.

The nurse, who was not identified, was treated at NUMC.

Guzman Campos was arrested inside the hospital by Nassau Second Precinct officers who police said were on site in connection with an unrelated assignment.

During the arrest, police said in a statement, officers found a bag believed to contain heroin in a wallet belonging to Guzman Campos.

Guzman Campos was charged with second-degree assault, second-degree menacing, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, fourth-degree criminal mischief and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

He faces arraignment when medically practicable, police said.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”