Officials in Lakewood are pressuring the state to change the way it places potentially violent patients leaving more secure hospitals after a man was attacked and killed at a small facility in the city.
According to Pierce County court documents, the attack happened on October 27 at Visions Adult Family Home in Lakewood. Police say Douglas Quitorio attacked Timothy Alan Nitschke after a disagreement.
Witnesses said Quitorio punched Nitschke in the eye with a coffee mug.
Nitschke was taken to Madigan Army Medical Center where he later died. He had a pre-existing brain condition, according to court records.
Quitorio is facing a charge of Assault in the Second Degree with a deadly weapon.
“Entirely preventable,” said State Senator Steve O’Ban (R-Lakewood).
O’Ban and Lakewood officials are renewing calls for stricter regulation over who can be placed in these adult family homes.
There are about 3,000 facilities licensed statewide. They can hold up to six residents and are often located in residential areas.
“I’m concerned about the people that live in those homes as well as the people that live around them,” said O’Ban.
He and Lakewood Mayor Don Anderson contend Quitorio did not belong in the Visions facility. It’s part of an ongoing fight Lakewood is waging with the Department of Social and Human Services (DSHS).
“They’ve been continuing to put people with violent pasts in these adult family homes,” said O’Ban. “They’re designed for seniors and people with severe disabilities, not people with violent pasts.”
“The City of Lakewood has been loudly sounding the alarm for years now, and DSHS has been tone dead,” said Mayor Anderson.
Anderson said Lakewood city staff found Quitorio was previously committed at Western State Hospital, in Lakewood.
Dozens of adult family homes are located in Lakewood. A DSHS spokesperson said about 300 people had been placed in the facilities statewide over the last 18 months, and incidents are rare.
A spokesperson for Western State was unable to comment on Quitorio’s case, citing health care privacy laws. No one at the Visions home was able to comment Thursday.
“It’s obviously a fiscal move,” said Anderson. “It’s a cheap place to off-load people from Western State who aren’t ready to be in the community.”
“We can’t have this, and we shouldn’t have this,” said O’Ban. “My constituents are alarmed, and they should be. And maybe this will give the department pause, and they’ll stop doing this, and protect the people in my district.”
