Evaluation ordered for man charged in store attack

MUNCIE, Ind. - A judge has ordered jail staff to conduct a mental health evaluation of a man charged with a knife attack on a manager of a Muncie Wal-Mart store.

Forty-one-year-old Rodney Patterson of Muncie wrote in a letter to a Delaware County judge that he acted in self-defense during the Nov. 3 confrontation at the store on the city's south side.

The Star Press reports Judge Linda Ralu Wolf last week told the director of the county jail's mental health diversion program to evaluate Patterson for possible participation in the program.

Authorities say Patterson became agitated while completing a job application and attacked the manager, cutting the man on the chest, arm and wrist. He faces battery with a deadly weapon and other charges.