Law enforcement officers in the State of Washington are alarmed and citizens are thoroughly pissed-off over the escape of a criminally insane killer during a field trip by inmates of a state mental institution.
In 1987, Phillip Arnold Paul murdered an elderly woman. During his trial he was acquitted of murder by reason of insanity. He was ordered confined to a hospital for the criminally insane.
Last Thursday, the powers that be at the hospital decided that 30 of their patients could be taken on a field trip to visit the Spokane County fair. Paul was one of those selected for the bus trip to the fair.
After their arrival, Paul just melted into the crowd of families visiting the fair. He hasn’t been seen since. The staff members who accompanied their charges did not report his disappearance for at least two hours.
Law enforcement authorities and the Washington citizenry cannot fathom what possessed the hospital to include an insane killer on a pleasure outing. Tom Paul, his brother, is a vocal critic of that decision and believes that Phillip is still a very dangerous person.
I can well imagine all the ass covering that is going on right now at the state agency in charge of Washington's hospitals for the criminally insane. I’ve heard it all before, many times over. "We are a hospital, not a prison." "Our inmates are patients, not prisoners." "Our staff are medical attendants, not prison guards." And so it goes.
The only ones crazier than Paul are the hospital staff members who authorized his participation on that outing, especially since this was not his first escape. He also took off in 1991 during a field trip to town (Medical Lake). After he was recaptured, Paul knocked the arresting officer unconscious as he was being booked into jail.
I am sure that Phillip Paul’s freedom will be short lived. Let’s hope that between now and the time he is recaptured, no one will get hurt as a result of the hospital’s negligence.
No comments:
Post a Comment