Indians are bad: Florida man's reason for assaulting nurse Leelamma Lal

The man who brutally assaulted an Indian-origin nurse in Florida said, “Indians are bad. I just beat the s*** out of an Indian doctor,” reported a police officer while testifying in court.

The attacker, identified as 33-year-old Stephen Scantlebury, was a patient at the hospital who attacked 67-year-old Leelamma Lal at HCA Florida Palms West Hospital psychiatric ward, on February 19. She suffered multiple fractures, especially on the face.

Scantlebury’s racial rant was revealed by Beth Newcomb, a sergeant with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, who testified against him during his trial in a circuit court in Palm Beach County Courthouse. He said Scantlebury fled from Palms West Hospital shirtless and with medical leads still attached to his chest.

According to one local news report, “Scantlebury beat nurse Leelamma Lal so badly that ‘essentially every bone’ was broken in her face.” He was arrested shortly after the incident and charged with attempted murder with a hate crime enhancement. Scantlebury was admitted to the hospital under Florida Baker’s Act, which essentially provides hospitalisation to individuals to assess their mental health and address any immediate crisis.

Since the attack, there has been an outpouring of support for Lal, as well as demands for stricter safety measures in hospitals. A petition calling for harsher penalties for those who assault healthcare workers has gathered over 9,500 signatures in just two days. The Hindu American Foundation also weighed in on the attack, posting on X: “A patient in a Florida hospital is in custody after critically injuring nurse, Leela Lal, taunting that ‘Indians are bad’ and ‘I just beat the sh*** out of that Indian doctor.’ Escalating anti-India rhetoric is endangering lives. It must stop.”

The Indian Nurses Association of South Florida also condemned the attack, stressing that this is a wider issue affecting all medical staff.