Another Incident at Greystone Park State Psychiatric Hospital

A patient attacked and injured a female employee of Greystone Park State Psychiatric Hospital [in New Jersey] after forcing his way into her office on Monday according to state police. The incident marked the latest in a series of incidents, including employee attacks, patient-employee fights, and mysterious patient deaths and escapes. Police charged Eugene Hardy, 38, with aggravated assault and criminal sexual contact. The employee, believed to be Hardy's psychiatrist, was treated for a back injury at Morristown Memorial Hospital and released. Hardy, who lived in Essex County until his civil commitment to Greystone in 1999, did not have a history of criminal conduct.

To be fair, these incidents have been less frequent since 1997, when the state Human Services Department barred the practice of detaining patients charged with serious crimes. Fights among patients and employees had been commonplace throughout the 1990s as the patient population climbed to nearly 700.

In 2000, Gov. Christie Whitman announced the state would close the troubled hospital.