Patient carjacks hospital employee in medical center parking lot

The man, clad in a hospital gown, pulled the employee from the car and drove off.

The man, clad in a hospital gown, pulled the employee from the car and drove off.

A patient faces charges after authorities said he carjacked a Coweta County hospital employee.

The incident happened Wednesday afternoon in the parking lot of the Piedmont Medical Plaza on Poplar Road, Coweta sheriff’s office spokesman Lt. Jimmy Yarbrough confirmed to AJC.com.

Witnesses at the scene told deputies a man wearing a hospital gown first tried to get other drivers to open their car doors, but was unsuccessful. The employee was sitting in her silver Toyota for a lunch break when the man told her to open the door. When she cracked the door, he pulled her from the car, hit her and drove off, Yarbrough said.

Investigators from the sheriff’s office, Newnan Police Department and Georgia State Patrol searched for the car and found it less than a mile from the hospital on Sunnyland Drive. The man was found at a home on Susie Place and returned to Piedmont, Yarbrough said.

Officials said the man had been admitted to the hospital for a mental evaluation and had been a patient for a little more than a week. He was charged with robbery by force and remains at Piedmont under the watch of Coweta deputies, Yarbrough said. His name has not been released.

The employee was treated for her injuries and her car was returned to her.

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