Man who fled hospital, died is identified

A hallucinating man who died early Saturday after fleeing a Spokane hospital has been identified as Steven Edward Escallier, 42.

Escallier was taken by ambulance to a hospital after police found him “suffering from hallucinations” at East Wellesley Avenue and North Standard Avenue Friday about 9:30 p.m.

Hospital staff called 911 at 12:04 a.m. Saturday, saying Escallier had fled the hospital and that security was following him.

When police arrived, Escallier “had stopped breathing,” according to a news release.

Officers administered CPR and Escallier was taken back to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

An autopsy Monday confirmed his identity, but the Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office has not determined his cause of death.

Escallier was a felon who had at least 40 criminal convictions dating back more than 25 years.

He was sentenced to a year of prison and a year of drug treatment in 2009 after he posed as a Drug Enforcement Administration agent and tried to rob two men he thought were drug dealers.

The men were actually trying to complete a cellphone sale advertised on Craigslist. Escallier told Judge Maryann Moreno at his sentencing in August 2009 that he was a longtime drug addict who was ready to change.

Moreno was skeptical.

“I bet you’ve said all these things in court before,” the judge said at the time. “I hear it all the time … You’re going to figure it out or you’re probably going to die.”

A multi-agency team is investigating Escallier’s death.