Trumbull jail inmate charged with felonious assault for purportedly stabbing emergency room nurse with blood-drawing needle

Staff report

WARREN

A female Trumbull County jail inmate is charged with felonious assault and escape after she purportedly stabbed a nurse in the neck with a needle Friday afternoon at St. Joseph Warren Hospital while the nurse was trying to take a blood sample.

Danielle M. Johnson, 35, of Auburndale Avenue, Youngstown, was being held in the jail on a misdemeanor falsification charge out of Niles Municipal Court when she was taken by ambulance to the hospital for seizures, according to jail staff.

An emergency-room nurse said she attempted to draw blood from Johnson at 4:30 p.m. with a blood-drawing needle, and Johnson grabbed it and stabbed the nurse, 44, in the neck, according to a police report.

A deputy accompanied Johnson from the jail to the hospital, but he had stepped out of the room to contact another deputy at the time he heard the nurse scream, he said. Johnson was holding the needle to the nurse’s neck and threatening her.

The deputy forced the needle out of Johnson’s hand and gained control of her, he said.

No information was provided on the condition of the nurse, and Warren Municipal Court records indicate that Johnson was not arraigned on the charges Monday.