Man accused of being US fugitive is convicted of abusing hospital staff in Glasgow

A man accused of being a US fugitive has been convicted of abusing hospital staff in Glasgow.

A consultant told how she was “utterly terrified” when “Arthur Knight” leapt from his hospital bed and ran towards her.

Dr Evelyn Miller, 58, said she and a female colleague ran out of the room as he pursued them, shouting and swearing.

The wheelchair-bound accused has been convicted at Glasgow Sheriff Court of acting in a threatening and abusive manner at the city’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) last month.

Separately, he’s the subject of extradition proceedings by US authorities who say that he is, in fact, Nicholas Rossi, an American citizen wanted for alleged rapes in the state of Utah.

Court papers at Glasgow Sheriff Court list him as “Arthur Knight, also known as Nicholas Rossi, Nicholas Alahverdian, Nicholas Brown, Arthur Winston Brown and Arthur Knight Brown”.

Dr Millar, a respiratory consultant, told the court he was known to her as Arthur Knight Brown.

She went into his ward at the QEUH on 5 July with senior charge nurse Yasmin Bagli, 27, and he was lying in bed.

He made it clear he wasn’t happy with his care and with an intention to have him medically discharged.

“He became very angry, very quickly,” Dr Millar said. “His voice became louder, the tone and language became aggressive and then he jumped off the bed.”

She went on: “There’s a bedside table. He pushed that out of the way. He came off the bed at a very rapid speed towards us. He was shouting aggressively and using the F-word.

“As he came towards us, he was inches from our faces. We were utterly terrified. We thought he was coming to harm us. Yasmin said ‘run’ and I said ‘yes’ and we literally ran from the room – it was extremely frightening.”

Ms Bagli told the court that Knight had been admitted to A&E for “coloristic chest pain and seizures”.

She claimed he told them to “shut the f*** up” when it was revealed he would be discharged and said that she ran as she thought she was “going to be put in harm”.

Faith Gibson, 38, a student nurse, told the court she heard “aggressive shouting” on the ward and saw her two colleagues running from the room “looking scared”.

She saw the accused standing at the room, shouting “whores” and “sluts” before he lowered himself to the ground and then lay on the floor “screaming abuse” at her two colleagues who had left the room.

The accused gave evidence in his own defence, telling the court he was an academic in ancient civilisation and an author.

His version of the encounter was that the medics told him “you’re not worth speaking to” and walked away.

He claimed he used his elbows to manoeuvre himself to the edge of the bed and slid down onto the floor.

He added that he used his elbows to drag himself to the door and asked them if he could help them in sorting his medicine before being discharged. He denied standing or shouting aggressively.

Sheriff Joseph Platt convicted the accused and fined him £400. He stated that the Crown witnesses gave their evidence in an “understated way” and “there was no exaggeration”.

The sheriff added: “The evidence that he (the accused) cannot stand on his legs was not credible standing the evidence of the Crown witnesses.”

“Arthur Knight” faces his next extradition hearing on Thursday.

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