Rapist charged with strangling woman inside hospital bathroom
Nov 14, 2013, 5:04 PM | Updated: 5:19 pm
Greg T. Walton, 38, was charged with second-degree assault and failing to register as a sex offender, the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office said Thursday. (Photo: DOC)
(Photo: DOC)
A violent sex offender, whose criminal history includes raping a woman at knifepoint, has been charged with attacking a woman inside a bathroom at Harborview Medical Center.
Greg T. Walton, 38, was charged with second-degree assault and failing to register as a sex offender, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said Thursday.
Walton is being held on $1 million bail.
According to police, Walton confronted the 60-year-old victim inside a women’s restroom at the hospital around 5 p.m. on November 9.
Detective Jeff Kappel with the Seattle Police Department said Walton grabbed the woman by the neck and then slammed her through a stall door, causing her to hit her head on the wall.
“He began strangling her. She was screaming for help, and as she screamed for help he squeezed down even harder to where she couldn’t scream any longer,” Det. Kappel said. “He, at one point, was digging his fingernails into her neck while he was squeezing her neck. It was a really violent affair.”
The woman’s friend, who was using a nearby men’s restroom, heard the commotion and came to her rescue, Kappel said. A King County Jail officer and off-duty Washington State Patrol trooper, who were at the hospital, helped get Walton under control.
Seattle police responded to the scene and arrested Walton, who appeared intoxicated.
At the time of his arrest, Walton was wanted on a warrant by the King County Sheriff’s Office for failing to register as a sex offender. According to the Department of Corrections, Walton failed to report for supervision after he completed a prison sentence on July 22.
According to court documents, Walton’s criminal history includes a 1996 conviction for raping a woman at knifepoint and a 2004 conviction for strangling his girlfriend. If convicted of the latest assault, Walton could face life in prison under the state’s three-strikes statute, prosecutors said.
Police said it was unclear why Walton was at the hospital that afternoon.
According to an incident report, he told officers he had a vague recollection of the incident but had “consumed a large quantity of tequila” and smoked cigarettes laced with PCP.
