The Policeman is Your Friend

Let me tell you about an incident that happened in my town a couple months ago. An 18 year old girl was arguing with her mother in the early morning hours. By all accounts, this was a quiet, well behaved, young person. Did Ok in school. No problem with substance abuse. She was 5 foot 4 or 5 inches tall and weighed one hundred and twenty pounds. I am not sure what the altercation between mother and daughter was about, but she had told friends that night, that she had been sexually assaulted. She had not been to a hospital or reported this to the police, perhaps this was a date rape situation. For whatever reason, the situation with the mother escalated and the daughter cut the mother, on the forearm, with a knife of some kind. Following this, she left the house. A neighbor observed her as she left the house, still holding the knife and called the police.

The police confronted the girl in an otherwise deserted public park at dawn. The medical report by the MD on duty at the local ER where her body was taken afterward, stated that there were 23 bullet wounds in her body. The city police spokesman said afterward that the officers (plural), that fired on her, were in fear for their lives, and that no less than lethal methods of subduing this young girl were available. Whether or not the girl actually threatened the officers with the knife was not mentioned, nor was the length of the blade.

The information released about this incident was very limited and the mother is not talking. I suspect a settlement will follow. The officers involved have not been suspended, nor are they facing disciplinary action. A hold on the release of any additional information, continues, pending something, I'm not sure what.

I wish I could say that this is an unusual occurrence in my town, but it's not. There is a pattern of the use of lethal force, by the police, against suspects who pose a minimal threat, when witnesses are not present.