SC woman hit hospital employee in the groin and he died. It’s a homicide, officials say
A Midlands woman is facing a criminal charge after a man died following a violent altercation with staff at a local hospital, the Sumter Police Department said.
Imani Cox, 27, was charged with second-degree assault and battery after a May 27 altercation at Prisma Health Tuomey Hospital, police said in a June 6 news release. Sumter police said Cox was at the hospital for a court-ordered evaluation when hospital staff and security reportedly attempted to stop her from leaving.
Police say Cox started fighting with the staff, striking at least two of them, according to a news release.
One of them was Kevin Robinson, a 40-year-old mental health technician who was “struck in the groin area,” police said. Robinson then became unresponsive and died a few days after the altercation, police said.
On Monday, nearly two months later, the Sumter County Coroner’s Office released the findings from an autopsy performed June 3 at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.
Coroner Robbie Baker said physiological stress associated with a physical altercation in the setting of cardiomegaly, or an enlarged heart, and obesity was determined to be Robinson’s cause of death.
Baker also said Robinson’s death is considered a homicide, and it continues to be investigated by his office and police.
After the altercation in Sumter, Cox was transported to another hospital in Columbia, where she completed her treatment, Sumter police said. When she was released from the hospital, Cox was booked into the Sumter County Detention Center.
Bond was set at $7,500 on the assault charge, Sumter County court records show. Cox is no longer listed on the jail’s inmate roster.
There was no word if she could face more charges based on the coroner’s report.
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This story was originally published June 6, 2022 at 4:10 PM.
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