Teen patients trap staff and start riot in plot to escape hospital, Arkansas cops say
Four juvenile patients were arrested after police say they started a riot in an attempt to escape an Arkansas hospital.
Officers received a 911 call shortly after 9 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 13, about a “large disturbance” inside Riverview Behavioral Health Hospital, Texarkana Arkansas Police Department Capt. Zachary White said in a news conference.
“Several juvenile patients had staged a riot and were damaging doors, windows and walls in an apparent attempt to escape from the facility,” White said.
McClatchy News reached out to Riverview Behavioral Health Hospital for comment Oct. 15 but did not immediately hear back.
Some hospital staff were “trapped inside a nurse’s station” that was “surrounded by unruly patients,” the police said.
Authorities said there were four “primary aggressors,” including two 15-year-old boys and one 17-year-old boy. The fourth was a 12-year-old girl, the Texarkana Gazette reported.
After entering the building, officers heard the juveniles telling each other to “overtake and disarm officers” so they could “arm themselves,” according to White.
Police deployed pepper spray through a broken door window and fired one bean bag round, allowing officers to “secure the rioting patients and free the trapped faculty,” White said.
Police and staff then completed a headcount to confirm no one was missing, according to White.
The four patients were arrested on charges of felony inciting a riot, White said.
The three teen boys were taken to a juvenile detention facility, and the girl was released with a later court date due to “limited space for female juveniles, White said.
Authorities said they were able to de-escalate the riot “without any major injuries to the patients, staff or officers.”
Ten additional law enforcement agencies responded to the incident, the department said.
“This is the first time we’ve had an incident of this magnitude at that facility,” White said.
Riverview Behavioral Health Hospital, about a 180-mile drive northeast of Dallas, is a “psychiatric hospital specializing in mental health care for adolescents and adults,” according to its website.
