Presence St. Joseph Hospital in Chicago has a “no guns” policy that goes well beyond what is required by Illinois law. Last week, security there ejected a uniformed, on-duty Chicago Police officer visiting a retired police officer patient during a break. Why? Because the uniformed cop wouldn’t surrender his sidearm.
What did the lone female security officer tell the cop to do if he surrendered his gun and then needed it while inside the hospital? “You will have to do like the rest of us, which is to run and hide.”
Run and hide? Sounds like a recipe for a lot of dead and wounded innocent victims.
Second City Cop reported the incident on its blog.
This morning I stopped by “Presence St. Joseph’s Hospital” on the 2900 block of Lake Shore Drive to visit slain police officer Rick Francis’s partner, Norm K. (019 – Retired) who recently had a heart attack and as of Friday was still in ICU. After stopping by ICU mid morning today I was instructed that Norm had been moved to another floor. In addition to that the nurse also made aware that the hospital has a strick [sic] policy against persons or in this case, police officers possessing firearms on the premises while not responding to a call for service…
…
Within 10 min. or so security arrived to escort me off the premises since I was unwilling to surrender my weapon… Having a brief conversation on the way back down with the female security officer, whom I might add was Not armed, stated that the policy set forth was even discussed with a Chicago Police Superintendent and the Mayors office.
I did asked the following question: “Had I surrendered my weapon and had let’s say I ran into a situation what is it that you think I should do since your hospital policy has stripped me of my weapon”?
Your (sic) going to love her answer! “You will have to do like the rest of us, which is to Run and Hide” Shaking my head not believing what I had just heard, drove away wondering what if anything could be done…
Intrepid readers will recall how a loser fired from the Chicago Fire Academy became angry at his ex-wife and shot up Chicago’s Mercy Hospital before responding officers shot him. At that point, facing armed resistance, the spree killer took the coward’s way out and shot himself in the head.
From USA Today
The gunman accused of killing a doctor, a pharmacist and a police officer at Chicago’s Mercy Hospital on Monday was kicked out of the city’s fire training program more than four years ago for bullying fellow cadets, authorities said Tuesday.
Juan Lopez, 32, bullied multiple cadets, including some women, during his roughly two months at the Chicago Fire Academy in 2014 before he was fired, Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Merritt said. …
Mercy has its own security, but the hospital officers did not get involved in the incident, (police spokesman Anthony) Guglielmi said.
Yeah, smart people don’t go up against an armed spree killer when workplace policy keeps them disarmed.
And here is Presence Hospital escorting out uniformed police officers for not surrendering their guns. That’s a recipe for disaster, not “gun-free” zone safety.