A man who stabbed an emergency room doctor at Provident Hospital is expected to spend less than three months in prison despite receiving a four-year sentence, court records show.
Nathaniel Price, 36, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in exchange for the sentence handed down by Judge Sophia Atcherson.
Doctors at Provident Hospital were treating Price for an infection in February last year when they stepped away from his room to continue their work in a nearby office area, prosecutors said. Price allegedly followed them, walking in with a stainless steel kitchen knife and stabbing one of the physicians in the chest and thigh. The 56-year-old doctor was transported to the University of Chicago Hospital in fair condition.
A second doctor, 32, shoved Price into a computer setup and pushed a chair toward him to allow both physicians to escape. That doctor suffered bruising on the chest during the confrontation, officials said.
Price was taken to another hospital for a mental health evaluation following the attack and was subsequently released, according to a CPD report.
Court records show Price accumulated 647 days of credit toward his sentence while held in jail, even though he was confined for roughly 400 days. In addition to earning day-for-day credit toward prison sentences while in jail, detainees can earn additional credits by participating in various programs while awaiting trial. Combined with the state’s standard 50% sentence reduction, Price was left with 83 days to serve in actual prison.
Original reporting you’ll see nowhere else, paid for by our readers. Click here to support our work.
