“There were two other men who saw her lunge, an eight-inch butcher knife through my trachea, so to hear that my injuries are listed as a laceration to my neck, my throat doesn’t work,” Jill Kidik said.
Nearly five years after Kidik was stabbed in the neck while responding to a landlord/tenant dispute, the former Hartford police officer spoke before the state’s Psychiatric Security Review Board and Whiting Forensic Hospital executives.
She said the woman who attacked her should not have been transferred to a less restrictive building.
“Show me, show everybody that she’s making progress. Show me in person. I’m here. I’ve lost everything because of her,” Kidik said.
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Attack on Former Hartford Police Officer
Earlier this month, Chevoughn Augustin, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, was transferred from maximum security at the Whiting Forensic Hospital to enhanced security at Dutcher Hall, which under consideration from a treatment team, allows patients to leave the building but remain on property without supervision and eventually go out into the community with staff.
The decision comes after new legislation that went into effect in October, that allows the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to make inter-hospital transfers without the permission of the board.
But on Friday, board members say the hospital acting without consideration of notifying them first puts them at a disadvantage to be able to best protect society.
Augustin was committed in 2021 to 38 years at Whiting Forensic Hospital. Staff said she has not shown violent behavior during her time, but Kidik said hospital staff must take into careful consideration what she has shown she's capable of when it comes to giving her less restrictive care.
“You cannot risk society’s well-being,” Kidik said.
