A 33-year-old Sandy woman was arrested after she grew impatient with waiting at a Gresham hospital emergency room and set off the sprinkler system, causing a flood, police said Tuesday.
Laura Samuel wanted to go home early Friday morning after she went to the Mount Hood Medical Center for unspecified health care and evaluation, police said. Instead, she left in handcuffs on allegations of arson, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct.
Police say she was frustrated with the length of time it was taking to be discharged from the ER. She first tried to break the phone in her room to get the staff's attention, and when that didn't work, she used the phone's battery to break a fire-alarm light in a nearby hallway bathroom, police said.
When the fire alarm didn't sound, she used a "heat source" to melt the wax on the bathroom's sprinkler head, police said.
Sixty gallons of water per minute began spilling into two bathrooms, three rooms and an adjoining hallway, police said. The rooms were unuseable for several hours.
Early estimates of damage have come in at $3,000, said Gresham police spokesman John Rasmussen, but there's further evidence of water damaged walls and baseboards.
Samuel was arrested and is being held at the Multnomah County Jail on $257,500 bail, according to the Sheriff's Office website.
-- Tony Hernandez
503-294-5928
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