Nurses Rally Against Douglas Kennedy Over Northern Westchester Hospital Flap
MOUNT KISCO, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A group of outraged nurses is taking on a member of the Kennedy family.
Douglas Kennedy stands accused of harassing two nurses in a maternity ward tussle. Their colleagues were on hand Thursday, as he went to court in Mount Kisco, CBS 2's Lou Young reported.
Kennedy walked out of court after spending 90 minutes in the defendant's chair listening to his lawyer position his case for trial.
He's no longer talking publicly about the now-infamous incident at the hospital maternity ward that was caught on camera, the struggle with two nurses as he tried to leave the ward with his 2-day-old son.
"Mr. Kennedy decided not to play this out on the sidewalks, but this is going to be resolved in a courtroom," Kennedy attorney Robert Gottlieb said.
The 44-year-old son of the late Robert F. Kennedy is facing harassment charges for touching the two Northern Westchester Hospital nurses who tried to stop him back in January, which would be a misdemeanor. Supporters of those nurses believe he should've been charged with felony assault.
"What happened in that hospital was a person of high social standing believing he was above the law," said Maria Rivera of the New York Nurses Association.
"He kicked her. The video is atrocious. She fell to the ground and flew across the floor. Who does that?" added the Association's Eileen Letgeiser.
The video Young has seen, though, only shows part of the action and no actual kick. The defense said the nurses were the aggressors. Young asked if Kennedy would accept a plea deal.
"There's nothing to deal. This is not a game. He's charged with a crime and he's not guilty of that crime and that's why we have trials. We'll let a jury decide," Gottlieb said.
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