OAKLAND \u2014 A man with a prior felony conviction for biting off a portion of his cousin\u2019s ear in 2022 was charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon in the Saturday morning stabbings of a man and security officer in the emergency department lobby at Highland Hospital in Oakland, according to authorities and court records.<\/p>\n
Both victims were treated and released for their injuries.<\/p>\n
The suspect, Charles Atkinson-Rodgers, 35, is being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail. Besides the two counts of attempted murder and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, he is also facing revocation of his parole.<\/p>\n
The violence happened about 2:25 a.m. Saturday at the hospital, which is in the 1400 block of East 31st Street.<\/p>\n
According to court records, Atkinson-Rodgers allegedly without provocation used a knife to attack a man he apparently did not know who had accompanied a friend who needed treatment to the hospital. The man suffered at least four puncture wounds.<\/p>\n
The Alameda County Sheriff\u2019s Office, which provides security at the hospital and is the agency investigating the stabbings, said a hospital security officer immediately intervened, followed soon by a deputy. During efforts to detain the suspect, the security officer suffered a knife wound to his head, authorities said.<\/p>\n
The Sheriff\u2019s Office said it is unknown how the knife used in the stabbings made it into the lobby. Those coming into the area have to pass through metal detectors, authorities said.<\/p>\n
Why Atkinson-Rodgers was at the hospital was not released. A motive for the initial stabbing has also not been released. The knife was recovered.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe swift actions of the hospital security officer and responding deputy helped bring the incident under control and prevent further harm,\u201d the Sheriff\u2019s Office said. \u201cWe are grateful for their response and remain committed to working closely with Highland Hospital staff and security personnel to help maintain a safe environment for patients, visitors, and medical staff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Such incidents are very uncommon at the hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe safety of the public and those who provide critical medical services remains a priority,\u201d the Sheriff\u2019s Office said. \u201cThe Alameda County Sheriff\u2019s Office will continue to work collaboratively with our Alameda Health System partners to respond to incidents and support safety at the facility.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to court records and prior East Bay Times accounts, Atkinson-Rodgers was charged in May 2022 with mayhem and second-degree robbery after he bit off a portion of a his cousin\u2019s ear in a parking lot in the 500 block of Lake Park Drive in Oakland. According to court records and newspaper accounts, the men were riding in a car on their way to buy marijuana when they got into a physical fight during which Atkinson-Rodgers bit off the cousin\u2019s left ear lobe before trying to steal his shoes.<\/p>\n
In a plea deal in November 2023, Atkinson-Rodgers pleaded no contest and was convicted of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury. He was sentenced to three years in prison.<\/p>\n
According to court records, Atkinson-Rodgers also has an April 2011 conviction in Alameda County for grand theft from the person for which he was placed on probation. Details about that case were not immediately available.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OAKLAND \u2014 A man with a prior felony conviction for biting off a portion of his cousin\u2019s ear…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[389,184,861,7,8,138,332,1529,9858,181,23,100,143,145,144,385],"class_list":["post-496215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-alameda-county","tag-bay-area","tag-bay-area-crime","tag-california","tag-california-news","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-east-bay","tag-east-bay-crime","tag-east-oakland","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-regional"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}