Spokane7
36°
September 18, 2009 in City
Patient with violent past escapes at fair
Grounded: Hospital halts field trips pending review of disappearance; Fair warning: Patient was missing two hours before authorities notified
Officers from the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department confer in the parking lot outside the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center on Thursday following a report that an Eastern State Hospital patient had walked away from a field trip.
(Full-size photo)(All photos)
The day after a mental hospital patient who brutally killed an elderly woman 22 years ago escaped from a group outing to the Spokane County Interstate Fair, local officials still have some vexing questions.
Why did Eastern State Hospital bring a group of 31 patients – including at least one with a violent criminal past – to the fair without notifying anyone of their presence? And why did it take Eastern staff two hours or more after Phillip A. Paul went missing to notify fair officials or police?
Many people – from the sheriff to county commissioners to the fair director – wanted answers, even as the search for Paul continues today.
Deputies believe Paul is heading for the Tri-Cities area and possibly his home town of Sunnyside.“I think it’s wrong – it’s totally wrong,” said Jennifer Craig, who was at the fair with her husband and grandchildren Thursday. “You’re putting too many kids and old disabled people like me at risk.”
The head of the state-run mental hospital, Hal Wilson, said Paul had been “a fairly model patient,” and described Thursday’s escape as “surprising.”
State officials have temporarily halted all outings for state patients with criminal histories while they conduct a review.
“This is very serious,” said Susan Dreyfus, secretary of the Department of Social and Health Services, which oversees Eastern. “We need to understand what happened and why.”
Paul, 47, was diagnosed with schizophrenia and committed to the Medical Lake hospital in 1987, after being found innocent by reason of insanity of strangling and slashing the throat of a 78-year-old woman in Sunnyside, Wash. According to previous reports, Paul said the voices in his head said the woman was a witch.
On Thursday, he walked away from a group of Eastern staff and other patients attending the annual event at the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center. It’s not the first time Paul has walked away from those in charge of his care.
In 1990 he escaped from Eastern and was convicted of first-degree escape and second-degree assault after injuring a Spokane County sheriff’s deputy who helped detain him.
On Thursday the hospital said no patients had escaped from the “forensic services” unit of the hospital in 20 years. Wilson said he couldn’t recall Paul’s previous escape.
“He’s not acted out in any way,” Wilson said.
Hospital officials told police that Paul, who authorities consider criminally insane, hadn’t exhibited violent behavior in years, and they have argued in the past that he should be released – though his petition for release was rejected in 2003.
It’s unclear what time Paul went missing from his group at the fairgrounds, but a witness said he went into a business about four or five blocks west of the fairgrounds around 11:15 a.m., and asked for a job application.
Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Dave Reagan said his agency was notified by Eastern about the escape about two hours later, around 1:15 p.m.
Deputies, police officers and security officers began scouring the fairgrounds looking for Paul, and people at the gates were given his photo. Reagan said that they soon determined – based in part on the witness sighting – that Paul was likely no longer on the fairgrounds.
Reagan and fair director Rich Hartzell said that alerting everyone at the fairgrounds about the escape, or otherwise closing down the fair, would have created an unnecessary panic. Reagan also said that deputies believe Paul may be trying to go home to Sunnyside and is more motivated to get away than to hurt someone.
“Our sense of things was that he didn’t present an immediate danger to anyone at the fair,” he said.
As a precaution, the West Valley School District dropped off elementary school students riding buses at their doorsteps, as well as middle and high school students riding last night’s activity buses home. The district’s schools are situated near the fairgrounds.
But everyone involved in the search for Paul was baffled by the fact that he was even at the fair to begin with – and about the lag in reporting that he was missing.
Hartzell said he got a call from hospital staff around 1:30 p.m., notifying him of the escape.
“The word ‘field trip’ was used, and I said, ‘Did you say “field trip?” ’ ” Hartzell said. “My biggest question is why someone like that was here and why weren’t we notified?”
He said that when schools organize field trips, they typically do notify someone at the fairgrounds. It’s not required, however.
Other public officials also voiced concern. Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich questioned why someone with Paul’s history would be taken to a place that’s heavy on family activities.
“It’s outrageous that security was so inept that a guy who’s officially regarded as criminally insane, was able to just slip away from the group,” said state Rep. Matt Shea, R-Spokane Valley.
Wilson acknowledged that a two-hour gap in reporting would be “excessive,” though he said he didn’t have all the details surrounding Thursday’s incident, and needed more time to investigate.
Jim Stevenson, a public information officer for DSHS, would not comment on Paul’s case, but said mental health professionals at the hospital would make any determination about a patient’s eligibility for community outings.
“A patient thought to be dangerous to the community would not be allowed out,” Stevenson said.
Stevenson said the outings are not uncommon for patients at the hospital, and field trips to the fair are an annual event.
In fact, it’s apparently not the first time Eastern State Hospital has taken Paul to the Spokane County Interstate Fair on a field trip. Paul told the Yakima Herald-Republic in 1993 that he and other patients were taken on supervised field trips to baseball games and the local rodeo and fair. He told the paper he had previously won a Best of Show award for a woodcarving contest at the fair, for a large eagle he carved.
Fair officials said they would like to be notified if the hospital intends to bring a group of potentially dangerous patients.
“I’m not saying we don’t have mental patients here or handicapped folks, but certainly it is not common practice to have criminals,” Spokane County Commissioner Mark Richard said.
Stevenson said the outings serve an important function in a patient’s recovery process “in a way that is very therapeutic and necessary.”
John Tran, the medical director for Spokane Mental Health, said that often patients are allowed outings, to “see how well they will adapt back in the community.”
“We also want to know how well whatever treatment they are receiving is working, whether they are stable enough to cope with stress,” Tran said.
Although Tran was not familiar with Paul or his case, he said that for a patient with Paul’s background, it would be “a high risk to even have that person, even supervised, at the fairgrounds.”
Tran also said that most of the time, patients who require medication by injection are usually non-compliant with their medication regimen.
Wilson confirmed that Paul takes his medicine by injection, but didn’t specify when he had last received any. Law enforcement said officials told them Paul needed to be found in 48 hours or he could become a threat to the public.
“Given the nature of his charges and that he had a previous escape, you have to ask yourself why was he given this opportunity again?” Reagan said.
Staff writer Kevin Graman contributed to this report.
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danpederson on September 18 at 1:31 a.m.
Hal Wilson is the person really responsible for this. He allows an anything goes atmosphere at ESH. Come in late, it’s ok. Get a promotion. Steal from the state, it’s ok, it was just before payday. Take murderers to the fair with lots of vunerable people, it’s ok, he’ll let them escape for a second time. It’s time for him to go.
babynoelle on September 18 at 7:13 a.m.
I have to agree with Dan. I don’t know who is in charge with letting these people out of prison to attend a fair but when you ARE A KILLER you DO NOT get released from prison nor are you on LOW security. I think this HAL WILSON should be fired if he was the one who made this decision. This is absolutely.. NOT OKAY.. You have a friggan murderer on the loose now and an officer keeping his job? I sure hope not!!
philipgregory on September 18 at 7:48 a.m.
Responsibility for this mess belongs to the person at the top.
Whoever that is, they should be fired - summarily and quickly.
This will give a clear message to the new director, or whatever title, that this kind of loose management will not be tolerated.
lewis8457 on September 18 at 7:58 a.m.
the murderers in the Walla Walla state prison dont go to fairs, what is the difference?
Scoutster on September 18 at 8:13 a.m.
This is the sort of story the media drools over. I mean, what’s better than Insane Killer on the Loose!?
Let’s hope once the emotion subsides the Spokesman can step forward and do a serious sort of in-depth balanced and non-sensational investigative report on this matter. That’s what a newspaper should be and what we need it to be.
And let’s hope some of the “Let’s fry this guy” people actually read such a piece.
So take a deep breath, everyone. There are lots of people out there who have done less time than 22 years for crimes as heinous as this man’s. They just aren’t mentally ill so they get out sooner.
I’ll bet some of them were even at the fair yesterday.
greensquare on September 18 at 8:32 a.m.
The head of the state-run mental hospital, Hal Wilson, said Paul had been “a fairly model patient,” and described Thursday’s escape as “surprising.”
1. Aren’t most, if not all escapes “surprising”?
In 1990 he escaped from Eastern and was convicted of first-degree escape and second-degree assault after injuring a Spokane County sheriff’s deputy who helped detain him.
“He’s not acted out in any way,” Wilson said.
2. Except for that one time when he, ESCAPED!
John Tran, the medical director for Spokane Mental Health, said that often patients are allowed outings, to “see how well they will adapt back in the community.”
3. I think he is adapting better than they expected.
I’m all for treating this guy with the care that he needs, and I understand how outings can help some patients. But this is a breakdown of the entire system. It’s not the person at the top that does the evaluations and determines if a patient is responsible enough to interact with the public. But the person at the top is just as responsible for setting particular policies for how to treat those that are evaluated.
opiemuyo on September 18 at 8:42 a.m.
Tell your county commissioners how you feel about all this….
http://www.spokanecounty.org/contactus.aspx?d=12
cryssT on September 18 at 8:43 a.m.
why isn’t it GUILTY by reason of INSANITY? some states have the law that way. that way when the criminal is finally declared sane they then have to do time in the prison.
and just how does an insane killer earn points to go out in public?
who thought up that line of stupidity.
he’ll only take his medication when he’s made to. now he’s 24 hours without medication and the “schizophrenia” will begin to assert itself.
how come GPS trackers aren’t on these folk when they do get field trips? a tracker that is metal chain and can’t be cut off.
eagleproducer on September 18 at 9:38 a.m.
Most murderers would not still be behind jails 22 years after their convictions. Especially in this case, which was not premeditated (because the insane cannot form intent) and there were no other criminal motives. He would have probably done less than 10 years with no prior criminal history.
I guess there is another benefit to having all your marbles. You do less time for your crimes.
The grip on sanity, for all of us, hangs by a razor thin string of gossamer. Try putting a GPS collar on that.
MrNatural on September 18 at 9:44 a.m.
A field trip for the criminally insane sounds like a bizarre experiment. Where would be the best place for them to go…why where there are lots and lots of vulnerable people where they can easily escape of course…I think the public expects that those who forgo criminal incarceration for commitment to mental institutions are to be kept within the institutions walls. The fact that the “criminally insane” are deemed just that forgoes any logic to reintroduce them to the general public without public scrutiny. Any rationale even by doctors should have to pass a stringent muster of professionals before this should be allowed to happen… ….What in heaven’s name could those in control have been thinking? Next week death row inmates tour Disney Land?
DrChas on September 18 at 11:02 a.m.
From MSNBC today:
“…According to a 1993 Spokesman-Review article, Paul attacked a deputy while jailed in Spokane County. Deputy Roger Knight says Paul, a former wrestler, picked him up and threw him to the ground, shattering his shoulder. Knight had to undergo extensive surgery and says his shoulder will never be the same.
That article also quoted a 1988 deposition in which psychiatrist Frank Hardy testified about Paul. “He’s the only paranoid schizophrenic - I’ve seen hundreds, maybe thousands of them - that frightened me,” said Hardy.
The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office says it had nothing to do with the organization of the hospital field trip.
KHQ also talked to fair organizers. They say they were not aware that Eastern had planned a field trip with its patients to the fair.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32914080/ns/local_news-spokane_wa/
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This guy was dangerous! Mentally ill, yes …but dangerous. The honcho at Eastern State Hospital exercised really bad judgment and should be replaced.
DrChas on September 18 at 11:22 a.m.
Actually, many of these issues are quite moot. Either Phillip Paul will be safely apprehended or there will be an adverse consequence in which case Hal Wilson and Susan Dreyfus of D.S.H.S. will undoubtedly experience litigation as defendants.
To assure that the matter is properly reviewed, I invite others to join me in requesting that district three state politicians initiate an inquiry addressing procedures, propriety, and community safety in response to this mishap:
Sen. Lisa Brown: brown.lisa@leg.wa.gov
Rep. Tim Ormsby: ormsby.timm@leg.wa.gov
Rep. Alex Wood: wood.alex@leg.wa.gov
vandals_lake on September 18 at 1:13 p.m.
Someone needs to lose their job over this. This is completely unacceptable.
Bob_Knows on September 19 at 9:49 a.m.
How is this situation any different from allowing the SPD to roam our streets and our fair? See “Otto Zehm investigation”
We have hundreds of hired pathological killers roaming our streets looking for anyone who “looks suspicious” to beat to death. I fail to see how one more guy is much of a change.
Will the fair be “pre screening” groups to prevent hired gun thugs in blue suits from roaming the grounds looking for good men to beat to death?
When this guy has killed more people than the SPD I’ll start looking for him.
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