More questions about suspect in hate crime attack on nurse

We’re learning more about the attack on nurse Leelamma “Leela” Lal by a psychiatric patient at a Palm Beach, Florida hospital.

Steven Scantlebury, 33, is accused of using racial slurs attacking Lal’s Indian American ethnicity while pounding her in the face.

“She had bruises in both eyes, her right eye was so swollen, she couldn’t open it. She was unconscious, intubated and not responding,” said Lal’s daughter Cindy Joseph to the Daily Mail.  

The mental health patient appeared in court Thursday where a judge determined he would remain in custody until his trial.

Lal’s questions why he was even admitted into the hospital because they say it is not equipped to handle such cases. Palm West Hospital is not designated as a facility for the Baker Act, a Florida law that allows patients to be forcibly admitted into a hospital due to a mental health crisis.

WBPF reports the defense Thursday called Scantlebury’s wife, Megan, to testify.

She described her husband as being paranoid in the days prior to the attack and had been hallucinating that he was being watched. She said while he was at the hospital, he ran down the hallway in the middle of his examination.

However, she said the hospital assured her they could handle her husband. The defense maintains he is suffering from acute psychosis. They question why he was Baker Act when he had voluntarily checked himself in.

Meanwhile, Lal is off the respirator but remains in intensive care and may never regain her eyesight.

“It’s rough seeing your mom, the person that took care of you for your entire life, like that, and you can’t really do anything,” Lal’s son Chris said.

The family remains frustrated that this happened to their mother while at work.

“She’s given her life to this hospital for twenty plus years,’ said Lal’s daughter Cindy. “I expected them to give her the correct protections she needed.”