An elderly mentally ill woman wielding a baseball bat was shot and killed by police in her apartment this week.
The 66-year-old Bronx resident was trying to hit one of the officers who was summoned to scene to deal with what a 911 caller described as an “irrational woman,” according to the Gothamist. When police arrived at the woman’s apartment, she was naked and holding scissors. One of the officers convinced her to put the scissors down, but she decided to grab a baseball bat shortly after and tried to hit a sergeant on the scene. He retaliated by shooting the woman twice in the torso. The shooter was placed on modified duty after the incident which is now being investigated by the NYPD. The sergeant apparently had a taser on him which he decided not to use on the woman.
The victim, 66-year-old Deborah Danner struggled with schizophrenia and was recently taken out of her apartment building in a strait-jacket, according to one of her neighbors. State officials like Sen. Ruben Diaz believe killing the woman could have been avoided. He condemned the shooting in a recent statement. “To me, it is very difficult to understand how a woman who is [66] years old and has emotional problems should have to die like this, especially if there are four or five police officers in the room with her,” said Diaz.” This elderly woman was known to the police department, yet the officer involved in this shooting failed to use discretion to either talk her down from her episode or, barring that, to use his stun gun.”
Source: complex.com
