ATHOL — On Thursday, September 18, 2025, at approximately 4:19 p.m., Officer Cody Vitols of the Athol Police Department was dispatched to Athol Memorial Hospital located at 2033 Main Street, following a report that a patient struck a nurse with a metal cup.
(The account and quotations in this article were sourced from the printed Personnel Narrative of Officer Cody Vitols and do not reflect any political perspective or personal opinion of News Link Live, which is strictly a business entity.)
Upon arriving at the scene, Officer Vitols spoke with hospital staff, who reported that the patient, Morgan Mathena, had just left the hospital on foot.
“Officer Vitols is familiar with Mathena via multiple recent police interactions,” Officer Vitols said. (Officer Vitols referred to himself in the third person throughout his report).
According to police, Morgan C. Mathena, 43, is homeless in Athol, MA.
“Staff stated Mathena was wearing a green shirt, blue shorts, and flip flops,” Officer Vitols said.
Officer Vitols relayed the descriptive information to Sergeant Randal Stange, who was in the area and began searching for Mathena.
Officer Vitols then spoke to the victim, an emergency room nurse named Brittany [last name redacted].
Brittany said she returned Mathena’s personal belongings, which had been secured earlier while Mathena was being held under a Section 12 order, a state law which allows for involuntary hospitalization if a person poses a risk to themselves or others.
“The patient was going through her belongings bag and found that her water bottle had leaked all over her bag as the top was not secure,” Brittany wrote in a voluntary statement to the Athol Police Department. “As she yelled, ‘You guys dumped my f*ck*ng water out!’ she threw her 40oz stainless steel water bottle at me. The water bottle hit my right thigh.”
Brittany notified the nursing supervisor and security, while another staff member contacted the police department. It was around this time that Mathena reportedly left the hospital.
“Sergeant Stange located Mathena sitting in the bus stop in front of the hospital,” Officer Vitols said.
When Officer Vitols learned that Sergeant Stange had located Mathena, he left the emergency department and meet with Sergeant Stange at the bus stop. Officer Vitols approached Mathena, who was sitting in the bus stop, and told her that she was under arrest for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
“Mathena was handcuffed (DL) [double locked] pat-frisked for weapons, and placed in the rear seat of cruiser 25-1,” Officer Vitols said. “Mathena was Mirandized, transported, and booked by Officer Vitols without incident.”
Officer Sydney Richardson of the Orange Police Department met Officer Vitols at the Athol Police Station to search Mathena.
Mathena’s bail was set at personal recognizance (meaning there was none).
“Mathena refused a phone call,” Officer Vitols added.
Morgan Mathena was charged with the following:
- Assault & Battery with Dangerous Weapon (to wit: water bottle), “for throwing a metal bottle at [Brittany], striking her thigh,” Officer Vitols explained.
Mathena’s arraignment was scheduled for Sept. 19, 2025, in Orange District Court. She didn’t show up for her arraignment, so a default warrant was issued for her arrest. Her warrant was recalled on Sept. 22, 2025, when she appeared for her arraignment, which was held on that date.
Her next court date is a pretrial hearing scheduled for Nov. 10, 2025.
Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the incident in this story took place in September, that’s because I had to file FOIA request(s) to obtain the court documents. FOIAs are time-consuming.
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