Driver’s Record Traced After 4 Die : Man Released From Mental Hospital 2 Days Before Crash

A former mental patient arrested last week after a traffic collision in which four people died had been released from a county psychiatric ward only two days earlier, having been confined because of reckless driving, authorities said Tuesday.

The suspect, David Columbus Hasson, 33, who was booked on suspicion of murder, was hospitalized June 17 after his father and a friend told police that “he had been driving up and down the street trying to hit people,” Los Angeles Police Detective Bill Pavelic said.

Hasson, who according to records has a history of mental problems dating to 1975, was released from Augustus F. Hawkins Mental Health Center on July 1, although he could have been held at least four more days, Deputy Dist. Atty. David H. Guthman said.

The district attorney’s office is to decide today whether to file murder charges against Hasson.

Criticizing hospital officials for not trying to keep Hasson confined through legal proceedings, Guthman, who heads the district attorney’s mental health section, asked: “Why didn’t the hospital bring that case to me seeking to extend civil commitment? . . . What I have always said to the hospitals is, ‘Why don’t you pass the buck to me, and let me make the decision?’ ”

Hasson’s case is the second in two weeks in which county health officials have been accused of prematurely releasing a dangerous patient.

Last week, Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner attacked County-USC Medical Center officials for “irresponsible actions” in releasing AIDS patient Joseph Edward Markowski after being told he was selling contaminated blood.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors ordered Department of Health Services Director Robert C. Gates on Tuesday to look into why Markowski, who has been charged with four counts of attempted murder, was not detained at the county hospital.

As in the Markowski case, county health officials have declined to comment on the Hasson matter, citing restrictions because of confidentiality.

Last Friday, while driving north on Hoover Street, Hasson’s car sped through an intersection at Gage Avenue and collided with another car, cutting it in half and killing a man and three children who were returning from a holiday barbecue with friends, police said.

Hasson, who witnesses said was driving between 60 and 70 m.p.h., came to a stop after two other vehicles were struck, investigators said.

The victims were identified as Michael Magee, 25, of South-Central Los Angeles; Sheneke Magee, 2; Duwane Magee, 11 months; and Ryan Wagner, 3. Lydia Tucker, 20, Magee’s fiance and the mother of the children, was critically injured and remains in intensive care at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood.

Hospital spokeswoman Christie Ciraulo said Tucker is “awake and fairly alert” but may be paralyzed as a result of spinal injuries.

Hasson is being held without bail in the jail ward at County-USC Medical Center, where he is being treated for internal injuries.

‘Acting Strangely’

Pavelic of the Police Department’s mental evaluation unit said Hasson was admitted to Augustus F. Hawkins Medical Center on June 17 after his father and a friend complained that he was “acting strangely.”

He was carrying dead animals around with him, “driving erratically” and “playing the role of a traffic officer” by stopping cars, Pavelic said.

After 72 hours of observation, hospital staff asked that he be held for 14 days, saying he was gravely disabled. According to customary practice, a probable-cause hearing was held before a mental health referee to determine if the hospital could keep Hasson.

Hasson was described as a manic depressive “with psychotic features” who was hearing voices and carried a dead cat in his car while “‘driving up and down the street attempting to hit people,” Guthman said, reading from the referee’s records.

A hospital psychiatrist, Dr. Greta Johnson, testified, however, that Hasson was not a danger to others, according to Guthman.

As a result of the hearing, the hospital was permitted to confine Hasson until July 5, if it deemed necessary.

Why he was released four days early could not be learned.

Johnson said she was not allowed to comment on the case.

Comment Declined

William Delgardo, spokesman for the mental health center, which is part of Martin Luther King Jr. General Hospital, declined comment, citing confidentiality restrictions.

County health officials did not respond to a request made through spokesman Steven C. Stewart that it discuss its general policies.

Pavelic said Los Angeles police had 11 previous encounters with Hasson, dating back to 1975, but he said the records describing these are not available.

According to court records, Hasson was confined in mental hospitals at least 10 times between September, 1980, and April, 1983, Guthman said.

Meanwhile, relatives of the accident victims expressed outrage Tuesday over Hasson’s release.

“They let him go when they knew he couldn’t be ready to hit the streets,” said Michael Magee’s mother, Jacqueline. “Who let him have a car knowing what he was capable of doing? Somebody should have done something to have avoided this.”

“Someone just called me and said that this man was a psycho and out to kill people, and the hospital just let him out on the street,” said Mack Magee, Michael Magee’s father.

The victim’s brother, William, said: “Something has to be done to change things to keep people like him in.”