Police: Doc hurled surgical instrument at sales rep

So here's one of those stories that really makes us wish we had more details: In Cleveland, a surgeon is facing an assault charge after he allegedly threw a surgical instrument at a sales rep during an operation. We had a hard time believing it at first — after all, we don't remember ever seeing this covered on "Grey's Anatomy" — but police say it happened.

According to Nicholas Spencer, the sales rep for a company that supplies surgical instruments to orthopedic surgeons, Dr. David Howie hit him just above the lip with an HIBB retractor — a metal object with a hook on one end and teeth on the other — during a surgery March 8. Unfortunately, we don't know what prompted Howie to throw the object, but Spencer said it was no accident: "That was just a blatant assault," he said. "He knew what he was doing and what he was throwing." After interviewing several witnesses and Howie himself, Cleveland police charged Howie with assault. "He didn't deny it, but he had a different version than some of the witnesses we interviewed," Det. Scott Felts of the Cleveland PD told KTRK.

Spencer said he's still trying to figure out why the whole thing happened: "I'm not a surgeon. I don't deal with the pressures, but he doesn't need to be hitting part of the team in the face with instruments because he's aggravated about something," he said. If he's convicted, Howie could face two years in jail and a $2,000 fine.