Richmond State Hospital patient charged with attacking staff with razor blade

RICHMOND, Ind. — A man being treated at Richmond State Hospital is accused of using a razor blade to attack four staff members.

Aaron D. Reid, 40, was charged in recent days in Wayne Circuit Court with four counts of battery with a deadly weapon, a Level 5 felony carrying up to six years in prison.

According to an affidavit, Reid became upset on April 21 when staff members at the state hospital — where treatment is provided for psychiatric and chemical dependency issues — took steps to separate him from a female patient he had sat next to in a television room.

An Indiana State Police trooper wrote that Reid removed two box-cutting blades from his jacket. The longer of the blades, about five inches in length, was attached to a makeshift handle, the court document said.

Witnesses said Reid at first held the blade to his throat, and refused to put it down.

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"I'm sorry it's got to be like this," he reportedly told hospital staffers. "I respect you guys, but I've got to do this."

During a struggle to disarm Reid, he allegedly wounded four staffers.

One female employee suffered a cut to her right forearm that was three to four inches in length and about a half-inch deep. She was also cut on her right breast, the affidavit said,

Two other staffers, a male and a female, suffered wounds on their thumbs.

The injuries suffered by a fourth staffer, who was treated at Reid Hospital, were not detailed in the affidavit.

A decision was made to leave Reid at the hospital in the immediate wake of the incident.

However, a warrant was issued for his arrest on Tuesday, and he was arrested Wednesday and taken to the Wayne County Jail, where he was being held under a $20,000 bond.

In 2001, Reid, then 18 and of Muncie, was sentenced to seven years in prison for an armed robbery conviction. He had been accused of using a sawed-off shotgun to rob a clerk at a northside liquor store.

According to court records, he was later convicted of conspiracy to commit murder in Madison County in 2006. In that case, he was accused of trying to arrange the killings of his wife and mother-in-law.

The conspiracy conviction resulted in a maximum 50-year sentence, but the Indiana Supreme Court later reduced his sentence to 30 years, noting Reid "has had mental health problems since he was a child."

While incarcerated for that conviction, Reid was convicted of being a prisoner in possession of a dangerous device in Sullivan County in 2013.

Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Razor-blade attack leads to charges for Richmond State Hospital patient