Hospital Patient In Custody After Attempt To Take Cop's Gun

ST. PAUL (WCCO) — An inmate is back in jail after a trip to the hospital ended with a struggle over a deputy's gun.

Investigators took Earl Bennett to Regions in St. Paul for medical treatment this afternoon. At some point, the sheriff's office says Bennett fought a deputy and tried to grab his gun.

Regions briefly shut down part of its emergency room, but there was no hospital-wide evacuation.

Joe Benitz, who witnessed the incident, says he heard shouting, and then workers started running out on their own.

"All of the sudden I heard, 'He's got a gun! He's got a gun!'" Benitz said. "Everybody in the back Emergency Room was stampeding through the hallways."

Police say the gun never left the officer's holster, and it did not go off. No one at the hospital was hurt.