Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — A Hayden man who was taken from a party to the hospital emergency room caused an estimated $5,000 in damages to ER equipment after tearing objects from the walls and throwing them, and fighting to get loose from leather restraints attached to a hospital bed.
Police, responding to a suspicious incident report early Sunday morning, found 19-year-old Scott Harder lying on the ground at Maple and Jefferson avenues in Hayden after what looked like a fight, Hayden Police Chief Jody Lenahan said. He was taken to the hospital by ambulance.
When Harder was brought into the medical center, he had a laceration on his forehead and a blood-alcohol content of .187, which is more than three times the legal limit, Steamboat Assistant Police Chief Art Fiebing said.
Police reports state Harder became violently upset when he was told that he could not be released until his blood-alcohol level decreased.
He reportedly started threatening the doctor on duty, Laila Wilber, and a security guard who was assisting the situation, Bradley Fejt. Police reports state that Harder said he would hunt the doctor and the security guard down and he had a gun at home that he would go get.
"It looks like that after they said he couldn't go, he flipped out," Fiebing said.
Harder reportedly started ripping objects off the walls, at which point hospital staff restrained him to a bed, which made him even more violent, Fiebing said.
When police responded to the scene, one officer heard obscene yelling and saw Harder "slashing" around in the bed after having ripped out his IV.
Harder said he was going to kill everyone and he was yelling racist comments, according to police reports.
"What a difficult job emergency room personnel have to go through when treating drunk people with injuries," Fiebing said. "With somebody that intoxicated, it seems some of his racist views came out."
Harder was taken into custody without a fight, Fiebing said. He was arrested on suspicion of felony criminal mischief, for destroying the hospital equipment, harassment and being a minor in possession of alcohol.
Wilber, the emergency room doctor, told police that she had worked in inner-city hospitals for 11 years and Harder was the scariest patient that she has seen.

To reach Larissa Keever call 871-4208