Police reported that an unruly man assaulted three people in the Utah Diabetes Education Center in Research Park on Dec. 1.
Karla, who did not want her last name printed out of fear of the assailant, said she was working at the reception desk on Monday afternoon when a man came through the door and began shouting profanities and throwing objects around the room.
“It was really freaky,” she said. “He was out of control and throwing whatever he could get his hands on.”
After making a mess of the center’s reception area, he took a bag of medication he had walked in with and began striking Karla on the arm with it. He also pulled on the receptionist’s phone receiver cord until it broke.
Two employees came running to Karla’s rescue. The man struck them as well, she said, while another employee called police. She and her co-workers hid in a back room, leaving the man to his loud antics in the vacant reception area.
Campus police arrived 20 minutes later to find the room completely trashed, she said. They also discovered that at some point, the man had removed his pants, said Capt. Lynn Mitchell.
The man had been recently discharged from the U Hospital, Mitchell said. Karla described her assailant as a black-haired man in his 20s, who stood about 5 feet 1 inch tall.
His name was not disclosed.