A Chattanooga woman who attacked a doctor in Dunlap has been indicted by Sequatchie County grand jurors on multiple charges, including aggravated assault and reckless endangerment with a vehicle.
Cecilia Drusilla Thomas, 54, also was charged with assault – threat of bodily harm, and DUI – first offense, according to documents filed in Sequatchie County Circuit Court.
A hearing on the charges against Ms. Thomas, who is represented by attorney Charles Wright, is set for 9 a.m.
on March 28.
The charges against Ms. Thomas grow out of an incident on Sept. 22 when she reportedly traveled more than 40 miles – from her home near Hamilton Place, to Dunlap – in an attempt to get a prescription for pain pills.
Denied that prescription, a furious Ms. Thomas reportedly grabbed her medical chart and took it with her when she left, Dunlap Police Chief Clint “Hightower” Huth explained last fall.
He said Dr. Mary Baldwin, the physician, followed Ms. Thomas in an attempt to retrieve the chart and the two women began to struggle. According to Patrolman Bryan Walker, the arresting officer, Dr. Baldwin was bitten and stabbed repeatedly with a key during the altercation.
Seeing what was happening, both Dr. Baldwin’s employees and workers in the office of Dr. Debra Daniels – whose medical practice is located directly across Rankin Avenue from the scene of the struggle – rushed to help the embattled physician, the police chief said.
At that point, he said, Ms. Thomas got into her white 1998 Chevy S10 pickup truck and sped out of the parking lot, nearly hitting the people with whom she had been fighting.
She was taken into custody shortly afterward, when Dunlap Police Sgt. Randy Phillips spotted her in her truck about 1.5 miles away.
The current charges are not Ms. Thomas’ first brush with the law, according to court documents in Hamilton and adjoining counties. Often, however, records indicate she was charged under another of the various aliases she has used over the years.
On Feb. 8, 2017, for example, the Hamilton County Grand Jury indicted her for theft of property under the name Cecilia W. Massey.
In that indictment, jurors noted she also is known as Cecilia D. Massey, Cecilia D. Thomas, Cecilia Drusilla Thomas and Cecilia Drusilla Zunitch.
Nearly two years earlier, on June 17, 2015, she was booked on the same charge –under the name Cecilia Drusilla Zunitch – into Hamilton County Jail. That time, the charges were brought by U.S. federal marshals.