If I commented on the headline the way I want to, my wife would whup my ass.....

Police Shoot Bizarre-Acting Woman

POSTED: 5:34 pm MST September 19, 2009

UPDATED: 6:13 am MST September 20, 2009

 

PHOENIX -- Phoenix police shot and killed a woman on Saturday after she tried to stab an officer in a barricade situation near 19th Avenue and Bethany Home Road, investigators said.

The woman's neighbors, Mike Rocha and Celestina Berumen, said the woman was carrying a toilet seat lid when she showed up and complained there was too much noise coming from their apartment.

Berumen said the woman threw a porcelain toilet lid at their door, and then a couple of minutes later, came armed with a knife and bottle and started stabbing the door.

"I'm scared," Rocha said. "I've got a newborn. What's going through my head is, 'Keep that door shut. Do everything you can to keep this crazy lady out.'

 

Rocha said he called 911. The SWAT team responded.

"The woman that lived there stabbed one of the officers with a knife," said Sgt. Andy Hill. "His vest protected him."

Police said another officer shot and killed the woman. Rocha said it's hard to believe all this happened over a noise complaint.

"Somebody's life was taken today for nothing," Rocha said.

The officer who shot the woman has more than 20 years on the force, Hill said.

 

Hill said the SWAT team did try a Taser first, but it wasn't effective.

As for the officer stabbed, we're told his vest was cut but he was not hurt.

The officer who shot the woman is a veteran officer with more than 20 years on the police force. He is on routine paid leave while officers investigate whether the shooting was justified.

 

 

First question a wiener would ask is:  "Why did they have to shoot an unarmed, mentally unstable woman?"   It's called Escalation of Force, and it's kind of tricky.   She already displayed a tendency for violence by stabbing a door, then a uniformed police officer, and they tried the taser to no avail.  Why couldn't they just get riot shields and pin her to a wall?  Ever chase someone with a riot shield?  And she could still reach around and potentially kill an officer.  Pepper spray?  Good stuff... the story doesn't say why or if it was deployed.   But the fact is this: there isn't time to fuck around in most of these cases.  Crazy woman can bolt into traffic, run off into a store full of people, retreat to her house for a little barricade action with more guns inside or a little disconnected gas line excitement.  The decision to shoot someone is usually made in the time it takes to say "aw fuck!"  And then come the retroactive quarterback of the community and press.

I support the officer until it is proven he acted maliciously and without cause, perhaps criminally.  I feel bad for the woman because it didn't have to end this way, but her mind put her in harms way. 

 

Here's a tip from my weapons instructors past and present:  if you carry a gun, always spend some time every day imagining when you may have to use deadly force.  Then try to avoid those situations.  The result is never good for anyone.