Garbage Bucket Leads To Elmhurst Hospital Fight: Police

ELMHURST, IL — Three Elmhurst Hospital employees got into an argument that started over a garbage bucket earlier this month. Elmhurst Patch obtained details through a public records request.

On Sept. 4, one of the men told police he was pushed into a door and said his back was hurting as a result. He said he needed a doctor to check his injury, thought he said his back was originally "messed up" because of a car accident the previous day, according to a police report.

According to the report, one of the employees became irate and shoved another. On surveillance footage, one employee could be seen yelling as another walked away down the hall.

The video showed the employee then took off his shirt and was wearing a tank top. He is seen clenching his fist and appeared agitated, according to the report. The shoving, however, was not captured on video.

The employee in question said he became irate and wanted to punch a co-worker, but did not. He stated he may have touched a co-worker while talking to him, but it was not intentional, police said.

After watching video and taking statements, an Elmhurst police officer said in his report he did not believe he had enough evidence to arrest any of the people for battery. All three said they were aggressive with each other, police said. The officer said he was told Elmhurst Hospital's administration would handle the matter.

An Elmhurst Hospital spokesman declined to comment.