A Blue Ridge, Ga., man was charged with two counts of sexual battery after he allegedly groped two women patients Friday at Erlanger Hospital.
David McKinley Bates, 55, is being held on $7,000 bond at the Hamilton County Jail.
Chattanooga police responded Friday to calls of a sexual assault at Erlanger Hospital. After talking with one of the victims, she said Bates told her his sick wife was getting surgery, according to an arrest affidavit.
Bates would come into her room when his wife fell asleep and the two befriended each other throughout the day, the affidavit said. But during one visit, Bates allegedly tried to grab the victim's chest. She slapped his hand away and told him to leave her room.
David McKinley BatesWhen she fell asleep, Bates entered her room again, the affidavit said. The victim woke up to Bates groping her and she slapped his hand again and told him to leave.
In another instance Friday, Bates befriended another woman who he told the same story to - that his wife was sick and having surgery.
When the second victim was asleep, she woke up to Bates groping her, the affidavit said. She ran into the hallway and told a nurse what happened, and the nurse called security.
When police questioned Bates, he at first denied any sexual contact with the first victim. But then "changed his story" and said he accidentally bumped his hand into the first victim's chest and admitted to grabbing her shirt and pulling it up and down.
With the other victim, he again denied any sexual conduct. But later he said he grabbed her chest only as she was running out into the hallway.
"The suspect admitted that when a woman shows him attention he doesn't think clearly," the affidavit said.
Contact staff writer Evan Hoopfer at ehoopfer@timesfreepress.com or @EvanHoopfer on Twitter or 423-757-6731.