LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Her street name is “The Nurse”, and some say she is protected by gang leaders.
Discussing her is against street code, but for the first time ever, it’s being discussed because she’s saving lives.
“She’s important for people on the street from keeping them from going to jail, getting time, really saving your life right then,” says one man.
The man asked we hide his identity, he is afraid he would face retaliation for breaking the rule of silence.
He wants us to call him “Street Run”.
Street Run has been in the gangs. He knows the circles, the players, the leaders and he says he knows about The Nurse.
“She’s saving lives,” he says. “They would go to this nurse to keep from going to jail or letting anyone know they got shot.”
Street Run says The Nurse provides medical help to gunshot victims and does not report it to police, something very illegal.
He says she charges between $500 and $10,000, but this is a nurse not just anyone can visit.
“She is reserved for anyone who doesn’t want to get involved with the law enforcement, they’ve done something wrong,” says Street Run. “You have to know the right people.”
Street Run says the nurse has a safe house, ready to use in a moment’s notice, and only if it’s approved by the street leaders.
“She has two or three beds, carts, set up like in the hospital. She has IV stands with IVs on them already, she has the table and sink,” he says.
Street Run says he hasn’t had to use The Nurse, but has had family members and fellow gang members use her.
In February, the mother of a man injured in a Little Rock police shooting who got away said back then her son went to the street for medical help.
“He went to someone’s house and bandaged him up,” said the mother in February. “It’s a lady. She’s supposed to be a nurse.”
This is something that has puzzled Little Rock Police.
“We may never know they were shot,” says Little Rock Police Investigator Tommy Hudson.
Hudson has been a cop on the streets of Little Rock for decades.
He says rumors have always run high about the nurse, who’s supposedly set up shop somewhere in the Midtown area.
“We would have people tell us, well this guy got treated, this guy was involved in a homicide or a shooting — this guy got treated by The Nurse,” adds Hudson.
Hudson says officers have never been able to track her because ‘talk’ of her is tight-lipped.
He says she is someone he wants off the streets.
“I don’t want somebody that’s impeding my investigation by accepting money that’s obviously involved in violent criminal activity,” Hudson continues.
Street Run says people who see her don’t even know her name, he says street leaders are afraid police informants will tip off officers.
“They try and keep it very, very to the street. They don’t want anyone to know about it. It’s why you have certain people you have to talk too before you can see her,” explains Street Run.
So, the big secret no one seems to have an answer to… who is this woman?
“The Nurse is like someone who’s undercover, like the undercover railroad,” Street Run says.
Street Run won’t tell us but says she recently retired from a hospital and has kept a stock of medical supplies and prescription pills over the years.
“When she first started this, I imagined she had already got a stock from when she was an RN [Registered Nurse],” he tells us.
Street Run says he knows of at least two or three hundred people The Nurse has helped that the police never knew about. He estimates The Nurse has helped six or more people in 2018, and it’s not just people in Little Rock who use her. He says people in North Little Rock have also paid for her services.
The Nurse isn’t the first under the radar service.
In the ’90s and early 2000s, Street Run says a licensed doctor was helping gunshot victims.
“Sell medication under the table, see you when you need to be seen in a regular hospital in his doctor’s office. When he retired, he kept helping people,” says Street Run.
When the doctor called it quits, The Nurse took over.
The Nurse may keep the pulse on the streets beating, Street Run calls her a lifesaver.
“It’s a lot of work she’s putting in to save your life. Also, hide the wounds from the police,” says Street Run.
