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Published: Thursday, Sep. 29, 2011

Updated: 11:21 am Thursday, Sep. 29, 2011

ASH patient held in stabbing of psych tech

Alleged attempt to stab hospital employee with a pen reportedly deflected by victim’s glasses

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Alshapaul Archie

| tstrickland@thetribunenews.com

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the Atascadero State Hospital patient accused of stabbing an employee. His name is Alshapaul Archie.

An Atascadero State Hospital patient is being held in County Jail without bail after stabbing a hospital employee with a pen last week.

Alshapaul Archie, 30, allegedly tried to stab a male psychiatric technician in the eye with a pen but ended up puncturing his face because the employee was wearing eyeglasses, said Tessa Linhares, an employee union representative.

Archie was arrested Sept. 20 — the day of the attack — on suspicion of assault, obstruction of justice and threatening a police officer, all felonies.

ASH employees have filed safety complaints with the state in the past few months, which prompted state safety officials to conduct a walk-through investigation at ASH this week, Linhares said. Officials with the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration have been at the hospital since Monday.

They are specifically looking at complaints of increased violence at ASH and how administrators file injury reports.

The injured employee, whose name was not disclosed, returned to work Saturday, a hospital spokesman said.

ASH officials emailed a statement to The Tribune on Wednesday regarding the attack only after requests for comment about the incident were made. Few details of the incident were released.

ASH is a state hospital that treats mentally ill inmates from the correctional system, among others.

The investigation into the incident is ongoing, according to the hospital.

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