Patient attacks hospital employees, flees, kicks police, cops say

An Amityville man attacked hospital employees, a police officer and an ambulance medical technician before being arrested in Bethpage, police said.

Lonnie Pernell, 22, was getting medical attention during an evaluation at St. Joseph Hospital in Bethpage about 1:10 p.m. Wednesday when he pushed an employee to the ground, Nassau County police said in a news release Thursday.

The female employee, 50, suffered injuries to her face and hand, police said. Pernell tackled a second employee coming to help the first. That male employee, 36, suffered a broken hand and injuries to his back, ribs and left knee.

Pernellleft and went to an adjacent construction site, where he got into an idling construction vehicle, police said. He drove off and struck another construction vehicle.

A construction worker managed to snatch Pernell out of the vehicle, police said. Pernell struggled and kicked an arriving police officer and ambulance medical technician before being subdued.

The officer and the ambulance worker both sustained right-knee injuries, police said.

Pernell is charged with four counts of second-degree assault, second-degree grand larceny, third-degree criminal mischief and resisting arrest, police said. He will be arraigned "when medically practical."