Officers won't face charges in death of patient who attacked nurses

The Ramsey County Attorney's Office will not file charges against police officers who tussled with a 68-year-old hospital patient after he attacked nurses last fall.

Investigators say Charles Emmet Logan, Sr. swung a 3-foot-long metal bar in an attempt to hit several nurses and hospital equipment nearby. He ran away, and was soon subdued by police officers. Logan died a short time after the incident; it's unclear, the county attorney's office said, if the use of force against him played a role in his death.

Richard Dusterhoft, criminal division director for the county attorney's office, sent a letter to the Maplewood Police Department saying investigators believe one officer and two sheriff's deputies acted appropriately when they attempted to deliver an electric shock and wrestled Logan to the ground in an attempt to subdue him.

Prosecutors reviewed security footage from the hospital that showed Logan, in a hospital gown, jacket and boots, approach a nurse's station and swing a metal bar. Two nurses were injured, the letter said.

Police were called to the scene. Maplewood Police Sgt. Michael Nye and Ramsey County sheriff's deputies Mark Suchy and Richard Werdien found Logan outside a few blocks from the hospital.

Logan then "charged the deputies still carrying the metal bar," the letter said.

Deputies used a stun gun on Logan, according to the letter, but the device didn't make contact with his skin and did not deliver an electric shock.

Prosecutors reviewed squad car video footage that showed the deputies wrestling Logan to the ground and the Maplewood officer handcuffing him.

"Quickly after getting Logan handcuffed, the officers noticed that he had gone limp and [was] unresponsive," the letter said. They called for medics and began resuscitation. Logan was taken back to St. John's, where he died.

According to the letter, the autopsy report indicated Logan's death was possibly due to "excited delirium, that he had an enlarged heart and suffered from hypertension. There were no taser marks on Logan's body."

The autopsy found several broken ribs, possibly caused by resuscitation attempts, the letter said.

Logan had been admitted to St. John's Hospital five days before the incident in an "altered mental status," the letter said.

Investigators found notes on the whiteboard in Logan's hospital room that they said indicated he had complaints about medication he was taking.

"When people fear you, they control you. I fear no one," one note said.

"All the medicine you can buy, all the doctor [sic] you can hire, you are going to take sick and die," another said.

It was clear from surveillance footage and the nurses' injuries that Logan intended to cause "death or great bodily harm" with the metal bar, the county attorney's office concluded. Logan also didn't show signs of surrender when confronted.

Prosecutors said police were authorized to "use whatever force would be appropriate," including "deadly force."

Maplewood Police Chief Paul Schnell said Logan had never had any contact with police before the Nov. 2 incident.

"What makes these types of cases difficult," Schnell said, "is we don't know and we will really never know exactly what was going on for him."