Workers should face consequences in Eastern escape

THE OLYMPIAN | • Published September 25, 2009

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What were they thinking?

The “they” in this case are officials at Eastern State Hospital for the mentally ill who thought it was OK to take a psychotic killer with a previous escape record on a field trip to the Spokane County Interstate Fair.

What thinking adult rationalizes that lapse of judgment, especially in light of the fact that unionized workers had warned managers repeatedly about the risks involved?

Clearly those officials responsible for the escape of Phillip Arnold Paul must be held accountable along with the staff members who waited two hours to notify law enforcement officers about the escape. Paul, 25 at the time, was committed as a paranoid schizophrenic after he was acquitted by reason of insanity in the 1987 slaying of 78-year-old Ruth Mottley of Sunnyside. Records show Paul broke Mottley’s neck and slashed her throat twice, then soaked her body in gasoline to throw off search dogs. Paul buried the woman’s remains in her flower garden. He told authorities that voices in his head told him Mottley was a witch who was casting spells on him.

IN STREET CLOTHES

Paul, 47, was one of 30 Eastern patients on the fair field trip that included 11 chaperones. The patients wear street clothes and the chaperones are expected to keep an eye on each person throughout the trip.

Paul gave the chaperones the slip and spent three days on the run before he was captured Sunday afternoon near Goldendale. The next day he was ordered by a judge to return to Eastern State Hospital near Spokane.

Paul, an amateur musician, had conned a friend for a ride after Paul claimed he had been legally released from the mental health hospital. When the friend saw news reports of the escape, he contacted authorities and led them to the point where he had dropped his passenger off. Paul emerged from the brush alongside the Goldendale-Bickleton road at 4 p.m. Sunday just as law enforcement officers were passing by. They took him into custody without incident.

That capture was a sharp contrast to Paul’s last escape in 1991 when he gave Eastern State Hospital personnel the slip during a field trip. After his capture, he knocked a Spokane County sheriff’s officer unconscious in the jail booking area and was later convicted of first-degree escape and second-degree assault. Given the horror of his original crime and his escape record, it’s impossible to understand why Paul was allowed to go on the field trip to the county fair this month.

TREATMENT TOOL

Eastern patients have taken outings into the community for years, and hospital officials say they can be a useful tool in treatment. During one conditional release, however, Paul fathered a child.

The union representing some hospital workers has said they were surprised Paul was approved to attend the fair because they consider him dangerous.

Greg Davis, president of Washington Federation of State Employees Local 782, said the union has expressed concerns during official and unofficial meetings. Davis said in recent years the types of patients allowed to participate in the outings has become more inclusive.

“Under older policy, a patient (like Paul) would not have been included in that outing,” Davis said. “That outing is for the best of the best ... patients with years of compliance and excellent behavior, people who the courts agree are ready to re-enter society.”

Just two weeks before his escape, A Yakima County judge had ruled that Paul remained a threat to the public because of his aggressive behavior and his decreased awareness of his psychosis. Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie D. Knezovich expressed dismay that Paul aroused no suspicion when he left the mental institution with a backpack loaded with clothing, food, an electric guitar and $50 from a Social Security check. “It appears that Mr. Paul had planned this for quite some time,” he said.

Susan N. Dreyfus, secretary of the Department of Social and Health Services, issued a statement praising those involved in Paul’s recapture on Sunday.

“We are committed to finding out how and why this happened, why there was an unacceptable (two-hour) delay in notifying local law enforcement of his escape, and how potentially dangerous patients were brought to such a public venue with the reported staffing ratios,” Dreyfus said. She ordered an immediate halt to all outings involving forensic patients and instructed DSHS staff to conduct a critical-incident review and report back within 30 days.

Those responsible for the serious lapse of judgment to include Paul on the list of field trip participants must be held accountable right alongside those Eastern staff members who waited two-hours to notify police of Paul’s escape.

This incident cannot — and must not — be swept under the rug.