By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A 33-year-old Ponca City man, who pleaded guilty to kicking a registered nurse in her chest at the Stillwater Medical Center emergency room, has been placed on two years of probation under a deferred sentence, court records show.
Ashton William Gates was ordered to have a mental health evaluation and take any recommended follow-up treatment, as part of a plea agreement with the prosecution approved in court by Payne County District Judge Phillip Corley last week.
Gates had been arrested at 11:09 pm on July 2, 2021, at the Stillwater Medical Center by Stillwater Police Officer Alonzo Cordova, who wrote in an affidavit, “I dealt with Ashton on a previous call where he was combative with nurses just a few hours before.”
“Officers Galbiso and Goree were on scene prior to my arrival and had already restrained Ashton by handcuffing his hands to the bed rails,” in the emergency room, the officer wrote in his affidavit.
A registered nurse said that it was about 8:52 pm when officers had been told they could leave while the defendant remained in his bed, the affidavit said.
“She said he was sedated and was sleeping,” until about 10 pm when she tried to wake him up so she could discharge him from the hospital, the affidavit said.
She said when she tapped his leg and told him to wake up so he could leave, “Ashton responded by saying he was ‘going to f……. kick’ her,” the affidavit said.
She said “she stepped away from his feet and told him he did not want to do that. She made her way around the side of the bed and Ashton had closed his eyes,” the affidavit said.
“When she woke him the second time, she said Ashton opened his eyes and kicked her in the chest with his right foot. She said he kicked her hard enough that she was pushed backwards, and as she went back, her back hit the ‘sharps container,’ mounted on the wall causing it to break,” the affidavit said.
The attack was witnessed by a Grand Lake Mental Health employee and a male registered nurse, the affidavit said.
“Security then stepped in and waited in the room with Ashton while police were called,” the affidavit said.
The sharps container “was mostly intact; however, a small piece around the lower right border had broken off, and the lower portion of the sealed container had been knocked off its alignment,” the affidavit said.
The registered nurse “stated she did not appear to have any visible injuries on her chest and was not sure if she had visible injuries on her back,” the affidavit said.
After the registered nurse went to the restroom with another female nurse, she returned shortly with photos of her injuries from hitting the sharps container, the affidavit said.
“One injury was on the middle of her back just to the right of her spine in the center of her back. The injury was still red and appeared to run parallel with her spine. The other visible injury was on her back on the outer edge of her left shoulder blade. This injury was also red and appeared to have come from the upper left corner of the sharps container,” the affidavit said.
“Once the evidence at the scene was gathered and a medical release was provided for Ashton, we escorted him out of the emergency room.
“Due to Ashton’s prior combativeness and the large number of patients in the emergency room, it was determined the safest course of action was to wait until he was outside to tell Ashton he was under arrest.
“Once outside, I told Ashton he was under arrest for assault and battery on a medical care provider,” the officer wrote in his affidavit.
