Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 12, 1993 TAG: 9308120258
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By Landmark News Service
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium
Curry was playing the role of a hostage-taker in a security drill at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital with a nurse as his victim. The police, however, weren't playing.
One of the officers later told Curry all he was waiting for before putting a bullet in his chest was a clear shot, Curry said.
For the first time since poor communication botched a hostage drill July 19 in the hospital's emergency room, the 25-year-old Norfolk General security guard who played the bad guy told about it.
"All I could do was back up and put the hairbrush down," Curry said in an interview Tuesday. "I just couldn't say anything. All I could do is motion with my hand like this," Curry said, motioning a "cut" signal with his hand to his neck.
"I was just totally out of it," he said. "The people in the waiting room were scared for me because they thought I'd get hurt."
Curry said that after the two officers realized he was pretending, they stormed out of the emergency room. He said one officer later told him that if his hostage had "moved anywhere away from me, he would have taken me out."
Police and city officials previously denied that was ever a possibility.
Curry has been unable to return to his job as a security guard at the hospital and has been reassigned to less stressful duties.
He said he gets nervous when police come into the hospital, and the incident has affected his personal life in ways he does not care to discuss.
Police officials said they don't know why police dispatchers were unaware a drill was taking place even though several police officials knew well in advance.
According to Curry, this is what happened:
Curry, who had been a security guard at the hospital four months, arrived at the hospital for a 6 a.m. briefing. Three minutes later, a security supervisor called the police dispatch center to again warn supervisors there that a hostage drill was going to take place.
At 7:30 a.m., the drill began.
Curry grabbed a nurse by the shoulders, using the hairbrush and paper bag as props. He asked for $10,000 and a helicopter.
Hospital administrators called their security officers and other officials. Suddenly the two police officers appeared 30 feet from Curry.
"They didn't say anything, they just came around the corner," Curry said.
Police Capt. V.L. Simmons, referring Wednesday to Curry's account of what the police officer allegedly told him, said: "I'm not sure that he made that statement, and if he made it, it might not be taken in the right context."
Curry said he is undergoing therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder.
by CNB