By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The man accused of biting, hitting and kicking three paramedics in an apparently unprovoked attack at a Centralia gas station earlier this year is a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic who is now court ordered to comply with treatment recommendations for mental health and anger management.
Wade C. Buchanan, 48, will be doing that in prison.
Buchanan was sentenced yesterday in Lewis County Superior Court to a year and a day, following his guilty plea last Friday to one count of second-degree assault and two counts of third-degree assault. He actually made a so-called Alford plea in which he did not admit guilt.
Buchanan was arrested after the Jan. 26 brawl at the Chevron station on Mellen Street, near Interstate 5. The AMR medics were fueling up their ambulance when he approached them.
According to court documents, the Olympia resident with a bachelors degree in engineering began showing signs of the illness in his early 20s and before his arrest, had been hospitalized by crisis intervention services multiple times. He was reportedly not taking any medication when he was detained.
He was admitted to Western State Hospital this spring under court order and put on medications, according to court documents. Buchanan had no felony criminal convictions before now.
Upon his release, Buchanan will be supervised by personnel from the state Department of Corrections for 18 months.
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For background, read “Olympia man charged in attack of medics will be sent to Western State Hospital” from Friday February 1, 2013, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
Yeah, screw the people he attacked!!! Hopefully when he gets out he can live with you. Then you won’t feel so bad!
I wonder if the parents of the man who was unmedicated tried unsuccessfully to get him committed prior to the incident that now landed him in prison. So often, if a person with mental illness is starting to decompensate, they cannot be held if they are not an imminent danger to self and others. And the danger to others cannot be assessed unless they are making threats. With much mental illness, there are no threats, just a growing delusion that ends in violence to self or others.
Prison is not a mental institution. I’ve worked at a prison, and their main function is incarceration. Mental health treatment is done sporadically, and is poorly funded. I feel sorry for this obviously intelligent man and his family.