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Attacked Western Psych Patient Speaks

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Sep 3, 2009 9:03 pm US/Eastern

Attacked Western Psych Patient Speaks

Reporting
Marty Griffin
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― A Western Psychiatric patient who says he was beaten by another patient is telling his story to the public for the first time.

Richard Kelleher, 63, suffered injuries to his head, including two black eyes.  He also needed stitches for his left ear.

"I was sucker-punched by one of the patients – kind of knocked to the floor and then he jumped on me and he pummeled my face about six times until another patient came and tackled him off me to stop the attack," he said.

The patient who allegedly attacked him is a convicted felon with multiple arrests, including aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and resisting arrest.

Kelleher says the man was acting strangely all day.

"He was very erratic. He was pacing and he was doing like kung fu exercises. He was doing a growling, talking sound. He took his shirt off, he went up to a picture and he put his fist on it," Kelleher said.

Kelleher says another patient saved him by pulling the man off of him. He says the nursing staff immediately called for help but couldn't do much more.

"It was a very traumatizing experience," he said.

Marty Griffin: "Did you think during this attack sir that you would die?"

Kelleher: "I very well could have. I could have hit the floor many times or could have had a severe brain injury from the attack."

The State Department of Public Welfare is investigating the incident and says Kelleher's injuries are minor.

They also say Western Psych had the appropriate staff in place and responded in an appropriate manner.

His family does not see it that way.

"He was punched by this guy repeatedly and had it not been for another patient pulling this guy off of my husband he could have been killed," Rose Kelleher, the victim's wife, said.

Kelleher has been moved from Western Psych and is in a Mercy Hospital facility.

He tells KDKA-TV he is shook up but is feeling better.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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