The cops didn't have to disarm her immediately, all they had to do was stay out of her way and wait her out. What was the big rush anyway? She almost certainly would have eventually become tired and put down the knife or at least have been easy to disarm, and they could have taken her into custody without risk of either party being injured. But no, they had to show their precious authority by using what turned out to be deadly force on a mentally ill woman who could have been managed safely with some patience and understanding of the situation.
I hope the city is sued to the max and loses the case, and that the cops involved in that tragically bungled incident are at least fired and banned from ever again working in LE. We don't need to have nazi stormtrooper tactics used on mental patients in order to enforce the law effectively.
Oh yeah. Let's tie up a few squad units watching an old woman for 8 hours. In the meantime, a crowd gathers. Then people start making noise. If the police try to do anything, people start throwing stuff. In some neighborhoods, you can stand around all day.
We got called to a housing project for a heart attack. Midway into the procedure, the police tell us we have to leave. A crowd was forming and they were having trouble keeping out of the ambulance. They wanted to steal drugs. This was at 3PM, not during the night. We strapped the lady in and took her off. She died.
They had sent me out to get the defibrillator and I remember thinking "Who are all these people? Don't they have jobs?" I was in high school. What did I know?