Dr. Louis Martin, the forensic psychiatrist allegedly attacked by a Lincoln Regional Center patient on July 23, died at 3:15 a.m. Thursday at BryanLGH Medical Center West.

“I think it’s going to be hard on everybody,” said Dr. Y. Scott Moore, forensic psychiatrist and clinical director at the Lincoln Regional Center. “He’s been working (here) off and on for a good many years.

“He was thorough, deliberate, (and) very, very careful of patients’ rights. He wanted to be even-handed with his dealings with them, and he was very comfortable to be around.”

Martin was assaulted by Eric F. Lewis, 35, according to court records.

On the morning of July 23, Lewis packed all of his belongings, left them in a box by the door of his Lincoln Regional Center room and told staff he was leaving, Nebraska State Patrol Sgt. Thomas Reinhart said in an arrest affidavit filed last week.

Then Lewis, who said he wanted to go back to prison, sat on a chair facing the front door.

As Martin walked in the front door at about 10:50 a.m., witnesses said, Lewis got up, walked toward a drinking fountain next to the door and hit 78-year-old Martin at least twice, according the affidavit.

Martin’s head hit the wall, then the floor, and he lost consciousness, Reinhart said.

Lewis is 6-feet tall and 220 pounds, according to authorities at the Lancaster County Jail.

According to the arrest affidavit, Lewis was upset with Martin for testifying at a Douglas County Court hearing in which a judge ordered regional center staff to medicate Lewis.

Lewis had told another regional center doctor he didn’t want to be treated at the center and wanted to go back to prison, the affidavit said.

Douglas County Sheriff’s Lt. Wayne Hudson said Lewis had said in court and on his way out of court that he was not going to submit to medication.

Authorities at the Douglas County Jail considered Lewis a high-risk inmate because of his charges and an earlier incident in which Lewis allegedly became violent in court, Hudson said.

In April 2006, Lewis overturned a table during a pretrial hearing on charges of sexually assaulting two Omaha women, and he was led out of the courtroom with a Taser pointed at his chest, Hudson said.

Lewis, who arrived at the regional center May 18, had been on “assault precaution” after allegedly assaulting a patient in May and another in June, according to the arrest affidavit.

In the affidavit, Reinhart said staff who witnessed Martin’s attack were concerned prior to the assault about their safety working with Lewis because of threats they said he had made.

“I’m going to kill you,” staff members told Reinhart that Lewis had said. “I’m going to kill all of you.”

After the attack last week, Lewis appeared in Lancaster County Court on a first-degree assault charge.

No one was available at the Lancaster County Attorney’s Office Thursday to say whether charges will be upgraded in light of Martin’s death.

Lewis is in Lancaster County Jail and is set to go back to court in August.

Reach Hilary Kindschuh at 473-7120 or hkindschuh@journalstar.com.