Western Springs Man Resists Hinsdale Cops At Hospital: Police

HINSDALE, IL — A Western Springs man earlier this month refused to leave Hinsdale's hospital, bumping a police officer who was ordering him out, police said.

Police were called to the hospital's emergency room about 6:30 p.m. Sept. 10. Patch obtained the full police report on the incident.

According to the report, Thomas W. O'Connell, 62, would not leave, even when officers asked him to do so. O'Connell, who was with two family members, said he disagreed with a doctor's decision to keep one of the family members at the hospital, police said.

According to the report, all three family members were "very argumentative" and routinely interrupted officers. Told that he would face arrest if he stayed, O'Connell started toward the door of an exam room. An officer stopped near the threshold and put his hands up. O'Connell told him not to put his hands on him, even though the officer had made no physical contact, the report said.

The officer told O'Connell, "Let's go," several times, but O'Connell turned around and said he would give his family member who was asked to stay in the hospital a hug, police said. The officer told O'Connell that he was not allowed to give a hug and that he needed to leave. Then O'Connell walked toward the officer as if he were going to walk around him, but instead walked into the officer and stopped, police said.

The officer then guided O'Connell back toward the door. According to the report, when the officer raised his arms, O'Connell jumped backward against the sliding doors to the room, glared at the officer and said, "Really!" He turned to walk toward the officer again, police said.

At that point, the police apparently had enough. Based on O'Connell's "unpredictable nature," including not following officers' lawful orders, two officers grabbed O'Connell's wrists and removed him from the room, according to the report. Around the same time, the officers saw that a female family member of O'Connell's had fallen, but they were not sure why.

O'Connell was charged with trespassing and resisting an officer. He was released and given a date to appear in court.