Spring Hill Man Arrested After Throwing Blood-Filled IV at Brooksville Nurse
A Spring Hill man splattered a nurse's face with his own blood at Oak Hill Hospital after yanking his IV and throwing it at her during a hit-and-run intake.
Gregory Tucker Sweetin Jr., 35, of Spring Hill faces a felony charge after Hernando County deputies say he ripped a running IV from his own arm and hurled the blood-filled bag at a nurse inside Oak Hill Hospital, spattering blood across her face and eyes.
Sweetin had been transported to the hospital on Cortez Boulevard in Brooksville on the evening of March 31 in connection with a separate hit-and-run investigation when, deputies allege, he turned violent on medical staff. According to the Hernando County Sheriff's Office report, he became belligerent, deliberately pulled the IV from his arm, and threw it so that his blood made direct contact with the nurse's face.
Two witnesses inside the treatment area gave sworn statements corroborating the nurse's account. The reporting deputy noted Sweetin appeared heavily intoxicated. Hospital staff initially refused to release him given his condition, and a warrant was drafted before he was taken into custody.
The evidence picture was complicated from the start. The IV bag had already been disposed of and the nurse had cleaned herself before law enforcement arrived, leaving no photographs of the scene. She did perform immediate decontamination, the standard response when blood contacts a healthcare worker's face and eyes. Blood is treated as a biohazard regardless of known health status, and post-exposure protocol requires prompt medical evaluation to rule out transmission risk.
On April 4, Sweetin was booked at the Hernando County Detention Center on a charge of felony battery on hospital staff. He was released the following day on a $5,500 bond.
The case underscores a persistent pressure point in emergency medicine: nurses and technicians at facilities like Oak Hill routinely treat patients arriving under police custody or heavy intoxication, conditions that significantly raise the risk of violent encounters. Prosecutors will determine whether additional charges are filed as the investigation continues.
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