The Orange County man whose behavior sent Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital into lockdown Wednesday has a past murder conviction, but his sister contends that he needs psychiatric care and not more jail.
Police records indicate 49-year-old Daniel Wade Sisk donned a lab coat and crashed a meeting at the hospital with what terrified medical personnel through might be a bomb in a bag. He was denied bail Thursday.
"[Sisk] wanted to feel like a doctor," according to Albemarle County police detective Kelly Chadwick.
Chadwick said that Sisk made his way past security at the hospital, located atop a hill in the Pantops area of Albemarle County east of Charlottesville.
"The male was able to roam the hospital freely due to his labcoat and the credentials displayed on the labcoat," wrote Chadwick, who reported having debriefed the hospital’s acting security chief.
The incursion culminated on the hospital’s fourth floor, where medical personnel had gathered for a meeting. Sisk entered with his gym bag.
"I’m here to give you some news you’re not going to like," he announced as he reached inside his duffel bag, according to the report. "Instantly, everyone fled from the room and out of the building."
While some workers huddled outdoors behind bushes, Sisk reportedly tailed one doctor into the parking lot, a move that brought him an assault and battery charge, one of four he faces including a felony count of using a fake terrorism weapon to intimidate.
"These actions caused havoc today at the hospital and caused emotional damage to the employees attending the meeting," wrote Chadwick, noting that one female witness was distraught and crying.
Sisk, who lists an address on Spotswood Trail near Barboursville, was arrested outside at the former State Farm office building nearby on Peter Jefferson Parkway, according to the police report.
Sisk reported that although he’s unemployed, he supports himself "through God’s hands" and tried to explain himself to the magistrate handling his intake.
"[Sisk said he] just wanted to feel like a doctor since he hasn’t experienced that before, and he is almost 50," wrote magistrate Kasmyn Harris. "[He] does not see how having a gym bag is intimidating."
Sisk, who was not armed, represented himself as nonviolent and his actions as harmless, noted Harris, adding that Sisk portrayed even his rush to the parking lot as defensive.
"[He] ran to police to get away from people who were acting out of control," was how the magistrate characterized Sisk’s view.
Retired forensic psychologist Jeffrey Fracher suggests that Sisk showed the hallmarks of mental illness.
"There’s a grandiosity in that behavior, particularly when he goes to the trouble of getting a white coat," Fracher told The Daily Progress.
Sisk’s sister, Lisa Sisk, confirms that her brother is unwell.
"He should not be sitting in jail," she asserted. "He should be in a hospital."
Three decades ago, Sisk was one of three 17-year-olds whose alcohol-fueled Saturday night cost a man his life and brought the trio adult murder charges.
That trouble started in the early hours of Dec. 29, 1991, when Sisk and the two other teens agreed to provide a rainy-night ride for a man they met at a Market Street convenience store. The victim, 29-year-old Clarence Henry Johnson of Trevilians, died after getting slashed with a broken bottle by one teen and kicked with steel-toed boots by Sisk.
"If I knew he was cut, I never would have kicked him," Sisk testified.
While Sisk blamed the other two, a prosecutor insisted on equal guilt due to a "concert of action" and helped lead a Charlottesville jury to convict Sisk of first-degree murder. He received a 20-year active sentence and later saw six of the 15 years initially suspended get reimposed due to a parole violation.
In his first Albemarle General District Court appearance over the hospital incident, Sisk, on a video feed from jail, heard prosecutor Armin Zijerdi mention the past murder conviction as well as three involuntary commitments to psychiatric facilities last year.
"If he has three commitments in a year, he’s clearly having episodes that are drawing attention," said Fracher, the retired psychologist. "He needs a thorough pyschiatric evaluation to determine trial competency and sanity at the time of the offense."
Judge Matthew Quatrara decided to appoint the Office of the Public Defender, and he decided not to offer bail.
"You didn’t give me a fair opportunity," fumed Sisk.
"That’s what your lawyer’s for, Mr. Sisk," replied the judge.
It was another judge, Edward Hogshire, sitting in Charlottesville Circuit Court, who handled the parole violation proceedings in 2005. Hogshire demanded that in order to prevent another reimposition of suspended jail time, Sisk must remain on good behavior for 40 years. That clock is still ticking.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com