Recaptured inmate
attacks guard
at hospital

Naked except for leg irons, a prison inmate under guard at the Queen's Medical Center tried to overpower the guard and take his gun Tuesday night, according to state public safety officials.

Greg W. Schoenlein, 43, was brought to Queen's for treatment of numerous cuts and lacerations he suffered when he tried to scale a fence topped with razor wire at Oahu Community Correctional Center earlier Tuesday.

Public safety officials said Schoenlein had just undergone an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and was getting ready to take a shower when the assault occurred.

Schoenlein's belly and arm restraints had been taken off for the MRI procedure, though he was still wearing ankle restraints when he jumped out of the shower at about 9:45 p.m., said Public Safety Department spokesman Mike Gaede.

"He bolted out of the shower and attacked him and tried to take away his weapon," said Gaede. "They wrestled a little bit, and the ACO (adult corrections officer) was able to get him out in the hallway."

The scuffle startled hospital staff and others visiting patients on the fifth floor at Queen's. Kalihi Valley resident Timothy Barroga said he was visiting his girlfriend's uncle with her relatives when they heard the commotion from the hallway.

"We just heard people saying, 'Crazy naked man! Security help! Help!'" Barroga said. "We went outside, and I seen this guy trying to take the corrections officer's gun ... so I put down my kid and went to help him out."

Barroga and two of his girlfriend's uncles helped bring Schoenlein down and pinned him. The whole time, he said, Schoenlein kept yelling.

"He said, 'Shoot me, why don't you kill me already, I want to die, kill me already,'" said Barroga. "He kept saying that and fighting to get loose.

"Good thing we were there, otherwise things might have gotten out of hand."

Barroga described Schoenlein as having "stitches all over his body." Gaede said Schoenlein suffered a significant amount of blood loss and "almost took the top part off" one of his hands while hanging from razor wire during his escape attempt Tuesday morning.

Schoenlein was supposed to have been on kitchen duty when prison staff noticed him missing about 3:30 a.m. After checking the grounds, prison staff found blood and pieces of clothing on an outside perimeter fence, which led them to believe he had scaled the fence and escaped.

But Schoenlein had only made it over the inner perimeter fence and was still hiding on prison grounds. Guards found him in a delivery area at about 6 a.m.

Police said he had used a "long, ladle-type spoon" to move the razor wire while scaling the first fence, but might have been injured too badly to make it over the second one.

Gaede said that since the incident at Queen's, two guards have been posted outside Schoenlein's hospital room, and he has been shackled to his bed. Another security guard from Queen's has been assigned to watch him.

Schoenlein was awaiting sentencing for a second-degree theft conviction. He is a Kailua-Kona resident who was indicted Nov. 27 for allegedly committing unemployment insurance fraud. Besides the theft conviction, Schoenlein now faces charges of attempted escape and assault, Gaede said.