So I guess that in Washington state someone thought it would be a pretty good idea to take criminally insane murders to the county fair to hang out.
Seriously.
The field trip to the fair, which included 30 other patients, is an annual event
Amazingly enough this turned out to be a fucking stupid idea and 47 year old Phillip Paul, who is a diagnosed schizophrenic who murdered an old lady back in 1987, made a daring escape - and by 'daring escape' I mean he calmly walked away from the fair and went to a friends house to get a ride out of town.
I'm pretty sure whoever is in charge of the criminally insane in Washington state should be smarter than me, or if not smarter than me at least they should be smarter than the average child. Go ahead, ask your kid if taking an insane murderer to the fair is a good idea - not only will they say no theres a good chance they'll tell their teacher that their parent is a moron.
The only possible thing I can say for Washington state is that at least they had no indication that this guy might try to escape....
Spokane County sheriff's Detective Roger W. Knight, also nabbed Paul after he gave Eastern State personnel the slip in 1991 during a field trip in Medical Lake, where the mental institution is located, Knezovich said. Following that arrest, Paul knocked Knight unconscious in the jail booking area and was convicted of first-degree escape and second-degree assault.....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.
Um....
So lets go over the checklist - criminally insane murderer whos been unfit for trial for 22 years thats attempted escape previously and attacked an officer following his last escape shows up for the field trip with a backpack full of supplies.....
Were the people in charge of the trip too busy passing around the sign up list for the big annual trip to Chuck-E-Cheese for the pedophiles to notice that this guy shouldn't be allowed to go to the fair?
They did catch three short days later...
"He stated he was 'done' and complied with their commands," he said. Knezovich added that Paul had a hand scythe — a long, curved blade attached to a handle — in his backpack but made no attempt to reach for it.
Well - at least it doesn't seem like there was any chance he would hurt anyone ... you know, other than the fact that he had picked up a scythe at some point during his 3 days of freedom. Maybe he was going to go into farming.
In light of all this Washington state has now called a halt to field trips for 'forensic patients' - which are patients in treatment due to criminal proceedings - in other words the criminally insane.
I think most people (even some of the stupid ones) would think that is a pretty good idea.
