A Cook County judge set bond at $50,000 for a Des Plaines woman accused of attacking a nurse and demanding the keys to her car on the campus of Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge.
Amanda Marie Bermudez, 24, cried openly as officers escorted her into a Skokie courtroom Tuesday afternoon for a bond hearing before Judge Michael Hood.
“This is a crime of violence where somebody was hurt,” Hood said before setting Bermudez’s bond. “And for the life of me, I don’t understand it.”
Bermudez, of the 200 block of east Bradley Street, was charged with robbery and aggravated assault in connection with the alleged attack reported in Lutheran General’s west side parking garage around 4 p.m. Sunday.
A 30-year-old employee of the hospital, identified in court as a nurse, told police she was approaching her car, which was parked in the west parking garage on the hospital’s campus at 1775 W. Dempster St., when a woman suddenly grabbed her arm and demanded the keys to her Nissan, Park Ridge police said.
The victim was able to break free and ran toward the garage’s exit, but she was tackled by the woman, later identified as Bermudez, who began hitting her and again demanding her car keys, police said.
“The victim refused to let go [of her keys], at which point the defendant threatened to kill the victim if she didn’t let go,” Assistant State’s Attorney Christopher Cromydas said in court.
Bermudez was able to take victim’s keys from her, but witnesses who saw the alleged attack intervened, and one of them managed to get the keys back from Bermudez before she ran from the area, Cromydas said.
Working with hospital security, Park Ridge police identified Bermudez as a suspect, learned she resided in Des Plaines and contacted Des Plaines police, who took Bermudez into custody near her home the same day as the attack, said Park Ridge Deputy Police Chief Lou Jogmen.
The victim reported she did not know Bermudez, Jogmen and Cromydas said. She sustained cuts and abrasions to her hands and arms, Jogmen said, and Cromydas noted that her clothing was torn.
Cromydas said Bermudez told investigators she just wanted to drive the victim’s car home, but admitted she should have taken a taxi instead.
Cromydas told the judge that Bermudez has no prior criminal convictions.
When Hood commented on the allegations made against her, Bermudez acknowledged that she had been “under the influence.” Hood later ordered that she enter a drug treatment program while in Cook County Jail custody.
Public defender Robert Mucci said Bermudez is the single mother of a young child and had been living with the child and her parents in Des Plaines. She is not currently working outside the home, he told the judge.
Her next court date was scheduled for April 13.
In a statement released Tuesday , Advocate Lutheran General Hospital said, “The safety of patients, visitors and workforce is our top priority. Public Safety continues to collaborate with the Park Ridge Police Department on this matter.”
jjohnson@pioneerlocal.com
Twitter: @Jen_Tribune
