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Florida man breaks essentially every bone in nurse's face during brutal hospital attack: Affidavit

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Updated  February 19, 2025 6:13pm EST
Florida
FOX 13 News

The Brief

    • Essentially, every bone in a Florida nurse’s face was broken after she was brutally beaten by a patient, according to a probable cause affidavit.
    • The patient, who has since been identified as Stephen Scantlebury, was in the hospital on a Baker Act.
    • Scantlebury was arrested after he ran out of the hospital and was charged with second-degree attempted murder.

PALM BEACH, Fla. - A Florida nurse will likely go blind after deputies say she was brutally attacked while working at a Palm Beach hospital. 

The backstory:

According to a probable cause affidavit, the nurse was caring for 33-year-old Stephen Scantlebury, a patient who was at Palms West Hospital under a Baker Act, when he attacked her. 

The document shows that a witness said Scantlebury jumped on top of his bed and then on top of the nurse.

That witness ran out of the room to get help and when they went back to the room with someone else, the affidavit states that Scantlebury was seen punching the nurse in the face repeatedly while she was on the floor. 

Documents show that when one of the witnesses yelled at Scantlebury, he stopped hitting the nurse and ran out of the room, through the hallway, down a stairwell, across the parking lot and into traffic, where he was taken into custody by responding deputies. 

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The nurse was taken to another hospital by trauma helicopter in critical condition. 

Medical staff stated that essentially every bone in the victim’s face was broken, and she would likely lose the use of both eyes. 

Scantlebury was arrested and undergoing medical clearance. A third witness said Scantlebury had been acting paranoid for the last two days, blaming people in his life for events they had nothing to do with, according to the affidavit. 

What's next:

According to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, Scantlebury was charged with second-degree attempted murder. 

The Source: This story was written with information found on a probable cause affidavit and on the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Facebook page. 

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