Former TC3 Student Charged with Stabbing Nurse While High

October 15, 2009
By Seth Shapiro

Correction Appended

A former student at Tompkins Cortland Community College was charged with first-degree assault, a felony, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and a misdemeanor after he stabbed a male nurse early yesterday morning at Cortland Regional Medical Center, according to The Ithaca Journal. The nurse has internal bleeding, and is in guarded condition at Upstate Medical Hospital.

Although Alex Stephens, 18, withdrew from his classes early this week and is no longer an enrolled student, he was on TC3’s campus visiting friends’ dormitories when he ingested hallucinogen mushrooms and overdosed on the narcotic drugs, according to The Journal. He was taken from TC3’s campus to the hospital for a mental health evaluation when he became uncontrollable and stabbed the 53-year-old nurse in the chest with a folding knife that he withdrew from his waistband.

Stephens was arraigned and sent without bail to Cortland County Jail.

The headline of the original article stated that the former student was charged with stabbing the nurse, when in fact he was charged with such a felony.