Thieves break into nurse’s car while he treats critical patient

Police are now searching for the thieves who targeted a hospital parking deck.

An emergency room nurse said while he was working to treat a patient, someone sneaked into the hospital parking lot, broke into his car and stole the battery, Channel 2 Action News reported.

The incident happened Saturday night in a secure employee parking deck at Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center South in East Point, the news station reported.

The nurse, who did not want to be identified, said he was treating a critically injured patient when he found out someone had broken into his car.

“I got a call from police that my car had been broken into,” the nurse said. “I was in the room with a critical patient, and once I kind of got him stabilized and had a second to step away, one of the other nurses kept an eye on that patient so I could run out and see how bad it was.”

The nurse told Channel 2 the thief shattered his window. The suspect then popped the hood of his car and took off with the battery.

The nurse said he was already under a lot of stress after working a 12-hour shift.

“To be honest,” he said, “my first thought was: ‘Wow. So, this is the thanks I get.’”

The nurse said he called his wife to pick him up in the middle of the night.

“I just think it’s extra bad to be doing it to someone who is literally risking their lives day in and day out for the community and the community I serve,” the nurse said. “It's not even somewhere else. It's in the community I'm currently serving. That's what's so upsetting.”

Police are reviewing surveillance video, hoping they can identify the thieves who broke into the car, according to Channel 2.