Asheville man seriously injured in attack at hospital emergency room

From the Asheville, NC Citizen-Times:

An Asheville man suffered a brutal beating early Monday in the waiting area of a hospital emergency room at the hands of a suspect with a history of mental illness, authorities said.

Johnny West, 57, was at the St. Joseph’s campus of Mission Hospitals with his wife Sharon to visit the daughter of a friend when he was attacked at about 12:25 a.m.

West was hospitalized in the neuro-trauma intensive care unit with a fractured skull, broken nose and bruising of the brain.

Shawn Michael Pettie, 30, of Rutherfordton, was jailed on charges of assault inflicting serious injury and ethnic intimidation.