Patient steals car, runs over staffer fleeing Delaware hospital

A Delaware man has been arrested after stealing a car and running over a staff member while trying to flee a hospital where he was a patient.

The incident occurred Saturday morning at Christiana Hospital in Newark when 36-year-old Larry Kelley escaped from the hospital, Delaware State Police said Tuesday.

After arriving, troopers learned Kelley had been in the Christiana Hospital Emergency Department but became aggressive with staff and ran outside. Hospital police attempted to stop him but Kelley got into an unoccupied SUV that was at the emergency room entrance. While speeding away, he struck a hospital worker and drove over him.

The staffer was treated at the hospital for serious injuries.

The troopers found the SUV abandoned later Saturday and learned Kelley was nearby on foot. Troopers and officers from the Newark Police Department found him attempting to enter a house and took him into custody.

He was medically cleared before being jailed. No information about what brought Kelley to the hospital originally was released.

Kelley now faces charges of assault in the second degree, theft of a motor vehicle, theft under $1,500, resisting arrest, criminal trespass, driving without a valid license and additional traffic violations, state police said.