NORTHAMPTON — A nurse is due back in court next month in connection with a criminal case alleging he physically assaulted a patient at Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

Officers responded to the hospital at 30 Locust St. for a trespassing incident at 8:23 p.m. Thursday, according to Northampton Police Department records. When they arrived, they found an injured Easthampton man who claimed he was assaulted by a hospital staff member.

As a result, Steven J. Coughlin, a 28-year-old nurse at the hospital, was taken into custody and charged with assault and battery for allegedly knocking the man's head against an emergency room sink, the Daily Hampshire Gazette reports.

The man, whose identity was not released by police, was reportedly a patient at the hospital, though it was unclear why the initial call was reported as a "trespassing/unwanted guest" incident.

Coughlin, a resident of Stilson Avenue in the city's Florence section, was released without bail and ordered to return for a Sept. 11 pretrial hearing after denying the charge at his arraignment Friday in Northampton District Court.

Coughlin's employment status with the hospital was unavailable. Cooley Dickinson representatives could not immediately be reached for comment.