Sheriff's Deputy Injured While Watching Inmate At Hospital

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – An inmate taken to Allegheny General Hospital had to be subdued after injuring a sheriff's deputy Friday.

Steven Woodson, 33, from McKees Rocks, was brought back to Pittsburgh from Philadelphia at the end of September to go on trial for a previous incident he was accused of being involved with.

Officials with the Allegheny County Sheriff's Office say Woodson is currently being held in the Allegheny County Jail. He was brought to Allegheny General Hospital on Thursday complaining of stomach pains.

A 42-year-old sheriff's deputy was watching Woodson, who asked to use the restroom. When he came back from the restroom shackled but not handcuffed, officials say things got out of hand.

"A dinner tray was brought into the room. The inmate grabbed the plate and struck the deputy on the face causing massive amounts of blood in the eyes of the deputy. A struggle over a gun took place. The gun fell on the floor and the deputy kicked the gun away from the prisoner," Lt. Kevin Kraus with the Allegheny County Sheriff's Office said.

A second deputy in the room next door came in and used a Taser to subdue Woodson, officials say. The gun did not discharge.

Officials say they later discovered that the suspect had also hidden a metal fork on himself.

In May of 2014, Woodson was accused of exposing himself to a woman on the T. Court papers show he spent four months in jail in connection with the case. He was brought back to Pittsburgh to go on trial for the incident.

Most recently, on New Year's Day of 2015, Woodson was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a Philadelphia parking garage.

Meanwhile, the sheriff's deputy injured during Friday's incident is still in the hospital recovering. He is suffering from facial injuries. But he is expected to be okay.

A lone deputy was assigned to watch Woodson during his two-day hospital stay. That is standard practice, and it's one which officials there say puts a strain on the Sheriff's Department overtime budget.

Already this year, the department has spent more than half a million dollars guarding prisoners who claim they're in need of hospital transports.

Lt. Kraus said after this latest incident, the department will take another look at that policy.

Join The Conversation On The KDKA Facebook Page
Stay Up To Date, Follow KDKA On Twitter