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Seven injured in skirmish at Atascadero State Hospital

May 2, 2014

ash2Four employees and three patients of Atascadero State Hospital were injured in an altercation Tuesday. Officers arrested the three patients and transported them to the San Luis Obispo County Jail.

At about 8:30 p.m., two patients tried to provoke other mentally ill patients by shoving furniture. Another patient then joined in and the group charged at hospital employees who tried to intervene.

One hospital police officer broke two ribs and another incurred a possible torn muscle during the altercation. The remaining two officers and three patients suffered minor injuries.

Officers arrested Jacob Sloan, 23, for battery, assault with a deadly weapon and obstructing justice, Justin Gause, 34, for assault with a deadly weapon and obstructing justice, and Harley Fisher, 35, for obstructing justice, according to the San Luis Obispo County Jail website.


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Why aren’t all State Hospital employees who have any chance of coming into face-to-face contact with the inmates/patients required to have a basic understanding of self-defense? It seems to me that anyone who works with the type of individuals that are in state hospitals would want to be able to defend themselves; and for certain, those that are the police officers on staff certainly should be trained in non-lethal means of subduing in a quick, efficient manner that training in the martial art of Aikido one becomes very proficient at doing. We have a couple of schools/dojos in San Luis Obispo county, and I can assure you that anyone of the instructors would take any charge by any mental patient and have them prone on the floor so fast most people would not believe what they just saw if they were to witness such a takedown. The state would be so far ahead of the investment to actually pay Aikido instructors to train the state police officers and other staff because they would become so efficient at subduing the mental patients that there would hardly any injuries to staff, very few injuries to the patients, and there would be an eventual change of atmosphere at state hospitals if the staff knew how to defend themselves as efficiently as they could with the proper training.


The fact that this type of training does not already occur makes no sense at all; it isn’t rocket science, it training, over and over that leads an individual to be able to recognize an imminent attack and either avoid the situation entirely, or if that isn’t possible, to deal with the threat so efficiently that there is no drama, no real incident, just quick responses that stop hostile intentions cold.


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I see similar activity every time in downtown SLO late in the evening …but I’ve avoided that scene the last two years.


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Scary


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Apparently, nurse Ratched explained that id they didn’t want to take their medication orally…there were other ways.


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Won’t these patients that were arrested for their assault crimes get off on “reason of insanity?”


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Insanity is a legal term and not a medical term. These people could be at Atascadero because they cannot adequately assist in their own defense or they have been sent there for evaluation. If charges are filed against them, the court will have to determine if they were legally insane at the time they acted out.


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Depends on what their Penal Code status is; If they are NGI residents (Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity), then yes, depending on psychiatric “evidence.” They would stay longer at ASH as NGI however. If they were PC1370, (Incompetent to Stand Trial), then another judicial determination would have to be made as to their mental status at the time of the crime (on and on and on). If they were MDO (Mentally Disordered Offender), then they will be charged and tried, and wind up doing more time either oin prison or back at ASH. It’s a total legal/psychiatric

C——-K, and the door NEVER stops revolving.


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“But he was rebuked for his offense. A donkey that normally cannot talk spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophets insanity.” (2 Peter 2:16)


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If we would just stop treating them as criminals, the world would be a better place-We could all sit around the fire, hold hands and sing “Kumbaya”.


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They don’t PAY these people enough that have to work in with the NUTS , in stead of running it as a STATE HOSPITAL , run it like a prison , or if there that screwed up just SHOOT EM


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The State Hospital Psychologists believe they can rehabilitate their patients and return them to the community…


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They actually can do that with some. The problem is that it is sometimes impossible for even the “experts” to tell a rehabilitated patient from one who is just acting that way.


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