Mental health patient assaults EMT, flees into Phoenix neighborhood

PHOENIX - Phoenix residents were on edge for hours Thursday after a mental health patient went missing in their neighborhood.

A chopper kept circling the Willo Historic District telling residents to go back inside their homes because police dogs were searching for man.

Police said shortly after 5 p.m., a patient who was being transported from a mental health facility on 2nd Street and Roosevelt slipped out of his restraints, fought with emergency crews and then ran into the neighborhood.

Because they feared for his safety and the safety of those living in the area, police put on a full-fledge search for the man complete with dogs and a helicopter.

Officers searched from house to house until they found the man hiding in a shed in the backyard of one of the homes.

“It makes me kind of uneasy,” said Kaley Weeter, a Willo resident.

The man who has not been identified, was arrested and charged with assault.