SPOKANE, Wash - The family of a man killed by a fellow patient at Eastern State Hospital wants the state of Washington to pay for the crime.
Daniel Zellmer was a patient at Eastern State Hospital, involuntarily committed there in March 2022.
On March 17 of that year, he was watching TV in a common area when the lawsuit says a man named Martay Ellis came to the doorway and gestured for Zellmer to come out of the room.
According to our previous reporting, Ellis was at ESH because he could not understand the proceedings against him.
The lawsuit alleges Ellis was moved from another unit at the hospital because of his "aggressive, threatening and hostile behavior."
According to the lawsuit filed in federal court this week, there is video of Ellis approaching Zellmer and gesturing for him come into the hallway.
There, attorneys say, Ellis spit at Zellmer, kicked him in the stomach and punched him 6-7 times in the face, dropping him to the ground.
"After physically knocking Mr. Zellmer to the ground," the lawsuit claims, "Mr. Ellis then 'heel stomped' Mr. Zellmer in the face and head roughly six times before Mr. Ellis was finally detained by Eastern staff."
Attorneys say Zellmer went into a vegetative state and never regained consciousness. He died on March 26, 2022 from those injuries.
The suit was filed on behalf of his estate by his two children.
In the lawsuit, attorneys say "the attack was foreseeable by Eastern and would not have occurred had Eastern taken adequate and/or reasonable steps in accordance with its own policies and procedures to monitor and supervise Mr. Ellis."
The lawsuit names as defendants Eastern State Hospital, Washington Department of Social and Health Services and Tony Bowie, who was at the time the CEO of ESH.
The lawsuit says the state employees showed "reckless indifference to Mr. Zellmer's federally protected right to care, safety and security."
On the criminal side of the case, Ellis is in the Spokane County jail awaiting trial on second degree murder and first-degree felony assault charges.
Earlier this year, a judge found him competent to stand trial for the charges related to Zellmer's attack.
However, a stay hearing in the case is scheduled for later this month, indicating there are once again concerns about his mental competency to stand trial.
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