Stroger Hospital Employee Attacked With Hammer At Work Suing Employer

CHICAGO (STMW) -- A Stroger Hospital kitchen worker whose boyfriend beat her with a hammer before committing suicide last April is suing the facility's food vendor, claiming a supervisor walked in on the attack but did nothing to stop it.

Beverly Garrett filed the suit against Sodexo Wednesday in Cook County Circuit Court.

At the time, officials said she was left with blunt trauma wounds to her upper torso after her boyfriend attacked her April 23, 2012, on the lower level of the county hospital.

Ramon Washington, 38, of the of the 10800 block of South Calumet Avenue, slit his throat after the fight and was pronounced dead within 45 minutes.

Garrett's lawsuit claims a kitchen supervisor employed Sodexo walked in on the attack, in a locker room and saw Washington hitting her with a hammer and cutting her with a box cutter.

But instead of helping, the supervisor shut the door and walked out without trying to help her, Garrett claims. The suit further alleges Sodexo employees knew Washington brought a hammer to work that day, and that he had a history of violence in the workplace.

Another female co-worker previously reported Washington broke her jaw in a separate incident, the suit claims.

Neither the named supervisor nor Stroger Hospital are named in the lawsuit, which accuses Sodexo of inadequately training and supervising Washington, and failing to keep other employees safe.

Calls to the company's North American headquarters in Maryland were not immediately returned Wednesday evening.

Washington and his girlfriend had been arguing ever since he recently returned from visiting his children earlier this month in Texas, his father Frank Washington previously told the Sun-Times.

"His girlfriend thought he was staying in a hotel but when she found out he stayed with his children's mother, she was upset," Washington's aunt Mary Rogers added.

"I don't know why he had to tell her," Washington's father said at the time.

Garrett's suit claims at least $150,000 in damages.