Drunken Patient Allegedly Set Fire to Washington Adventist Hospital ER
27 August 2018 | The Montgomery County Fire Marshal’s Office reported that a very inebriated man started a fire in Takoma Park, Maryland-based Washington Adventist Hospital’s emergency room. The patient, Henry Padilla-Martinez, 20, was found wandering the halls of the ER shortly before it was discovered that his bed was on fire.
The incident took place on Sunday, May 27, but was reported on Friday, August 24, by Washington D.C.’s WJLA ABC television affiliate. The fire marshal’s office charged Padilla-Martinez, who was in possession of a BIC lighter at the time of the incident, with first-degree malicious burning and reckless endangerment.
The suspect had been brought to the hospital for observation by law enforcement that discovered him passed out and smelling of booze in a nearby parking lot.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has stated that Padilla-Martinez was born in Honduras and is living in the U.S. illegally. He faces up to 10 years in prison as well as deportation if found guilty after he faces a two-day jury trial on October 3.
Washington Adventist Hospital is part of the not-for-profit Adventist HealthCare network which includes four hospitals, mental health services and home health agencies that serve the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Adventist HealthCare is not part of the West Coast’s Adventist Health network of hospitals nor is it part of Adventist Health System, headquartered in Altamonte Springs, Florida.
