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DA says police shooting was justified (4 cops, 1 mentally ill woman with knife)
The Times-Tribune (Scranton PA) ^ | 6/16/2009 | David Singleton

Posted on 06/16/2009 11:17:30 AM PDT by Born Conservative

The four police officers who went to Brenda Williams' apartment the evening of May 28 were ready to wrap up, awaiting only the completion of a citation charging the North Scranton woman with disorderly conduct before calling it a night.

Then Ms. Williams emerged from her kitchen holding a knife with a wooden handle and an 8-inch blade, and suddenly everything changed.

Within seconds, as the 52-year-old woman ignored commands to drop the weapon as she moved toward one of the officers, three of them fired, fatally wounding Ms. Williams in what Lackawanna County District Attorney Andy Jarbola ruled Monday was a justifiable response to the threat she presented.

"In light of the facts that were presented to me by the state police, it is my opinion the officers involved - their actions - were justified and that no criminal charges will filed be against them," Mr. Jarbola said at a news conference at which he released the findings of the investigation.

If the long-awaited disclosure took some of the mystery out of what happened inside Ms. Williams' second-floor apartment at 1501 N. Lincoln Ave., it is not likely to end the questions about how the Police Department handled what started out as a harassment call involving a mentally ill woman.

Attorney William Mikita Jr., who represented the Williams family, said he disagrees with Mr. Jarbola's conclusion that the shooting was justified.

"We've got one officer making the determination that she's not a threat to herself and minutes later, she's dead," Mr. Mikita said. "How does something like that happen? Did they lose control of the scene?"

Referring occasionally to a diagram of Ms. Williams' apartment and photos from the scene posted on a wall at his Spruce Street office, Mr. Jarbola spent nearly an hour outlining the circumstances that led to the shooting and how he reached his determination.

For the first time, the four officers who were at Ms. Williams' apartment - and who have been on administrative duty since the incident - were identified.

Cpl. Robert Stanek, who was the supervisor at the scene, is a 16-year police veteran, Mr. Jarbola said. Officer James Smith, who had had previous contact with Ms. Williams, has been with the department for 11 years. The other two, Officers Jason Knoch and Eric Jordan, have been on the force for just over a year.

The district attorney also revealed Ms. Williams was shot five times, including two lethal wounds to her abdomen and another potentially fatal wound that severed the femoral artery in her right leg. She had a sixth wound from falling on the knife.

According to Mr. Jarbola, Officers Smith and Jordan were the first to respond, going to Ms. Williams' apartment shortly after 10 p.m. after a neighbor complained Ms. Williams had been harassing her and her fiance.

Officer Smith had responded to a similar call two days earlier, on May 26, when he learned Ms. Williams had been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic who had possibly stopped taking her prescribed medication, Mr. Jarbola said.

When a nude Ms. Williams retreated back into her apartment after answering the door, the officers entered and found the woman underneath the covers in her bedroom. She appeared agitated and annoyed, yelling and cursing at the officers.

Around 10:40 p.m., Officer Smith contacted the Communications Center and requested an ambulance for a possible involuntary commitment of Ms. Williams under Section 302 of the state's mental health law. The law permits the involuntary commitment of individuals who are deemed a threat to themselves or others.

Around the same time, Officer Smith requested Cpl. Stanek be notified of the situation. Emergency medical technicians arrived at 10:45 p.m., and Cpl. Stanek and Officer Knoch came about 15 minutes later, around 11, Mr. Jarbola said.

At that time, the EMTs told state police, Ms. Williams "was pacing around the apartment nude, She was agitated, screaming and cursing at everyone," he said.

After a discussion with the other officers in the apartment's living room, and with no evidence Ms. Williams posed a danger to herself or others, Cpl. Stanek made the decision there would be no 302 commitment and instructed Officer Knoch to write up a citation for disorderly conduct instead. The EMTs were also released.

"They were basically waiting for the citation to be written, and they were going to leave," Mr. Jarbola said.

That's when Ms. Williams emerged from her bedroom and went to her kitchen at the other end of the apartment, he said. The officers heard her rummaging through the kitchen, and one suggested she may be getting a knife.

Mr. Jarbola said Ms. Williams, who was 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighed about 194 pounds, then returned from the kitchen through the dining room, holding a knife in front of her as she walked into the living room. The officers drew their weapons and ordered her to drop the knife, but she refused and headed directly toward Officer Smith, who moved backward through her bedroom door.

She was 2 to 5 feet from Officer Smith when the officers fired - Officer Smith from just inside the bedroom, and Officer Knoch and Sgt. Stanek from another doorway to her right, Mr. Jarbola said.

It is still unclear who fired first, but Officers Smith and Knoch each fired twice and Cpl. Stanek once, he said. Officer Jordan, who could not see Ms. Williams from where he was standing, did not discharge his weapon.

The time that elapsed between Ms. Williams going to the kitchen and the officers opening fire was less than 30 seconds and probably "more like 10 to 15 seconds," Mr. Jarbola said.

The district attorney said law enforcement officials are allowed to use deadly force under Pennsylvania law "when there is an imminent threat of death of serious bodily injury to themselves or others" - a condition he said was met when Ms. Williams advanced on Officer Smith with the knife.

Mr. Jarbola said he could not speak to the issue of whether the officers were complacent in allowing Ms. Williams to go to her kitchen unsupervised.

"She's not under arrest. It's in her own home," he said. "The officers - I don't know - they could have assumed she was going to the bathroom."

Police Chief David Elliott, who received a copy of the state police report late Monday afternoon, called the four officers "good cops" who have never had any type of disciplinary issues in the time he has been chief.

With the completion of the state police investigation and Mr. Jarbola's review, the department will now conduct its own internal review "to make sure we followed the correct procedures and whether there is anything we could have done differently," he said.

In the meantime, three of the four officers have seen psychologists and have been cleared to return to duty, he said. The fourth had an appointment Monday.

"These officers just took someone's life. Mentally, it can take a toll on you," he said.

Mr. Mikita, the attorney who represents Ms. Williams' family, did not rule out the possibility that the family will file a civil suit, but he said they will need to review all the evidence before making that decision.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption
KEYWORDS: brendawilliams; scranton
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To: driftdiver

That the cops screwed up that time doesn’t mean they screwed up this time.


61 posted on 06/16/2009 1:57:59 PM PDT by Valpal1 (Always be prepared to make that difference.)
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To: driftdiver

Seen your game before

Don’t care for it.

Have a nice day.


62 posted on 06/16/2009 2:01:40 PM PDT by 5Madman2 (There is no such thing as an experienced suicide bomber)
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To: 5Madman2

You have a nice day too. Let me know where my game is if you’ve seen it, I’ve been looking for it.


63 posted on 06/16/2009 2:03:21 PM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: No Surrender No Retreat

Well Said-you called it.

Don’t bother the Keyboard commandoes with anything that resembles law, logic, fact, or anything else.

That may actually cause them to question their absolute truth that all cops are subhuman Nazi Morons that aren’t qualified to work in a convenience store and just got the job to compensate for their small organs.

I used to attempt to engage with logic, then saw it was fruitless.


64 posted on 06/16/2009 2:21:26 PM PDT by 5Madman2 (There is no such thing as an experienced suicide bomber)
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To: Secret Agent Man
There is post-traumatic stress going through this.

Only for girly-men.

Everyone is a victim of something, I guess.

65 posted on 06/16/2009 2:24:24 PM PDT by Glenn (Free Venezuela!)
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To: Glenn

I think you typed out a snarky reply before really thinking about it.

If you consider cops girly men, so be it.

If you consider military folks who have had to kill people having trouble with it and being grily men, then so be it.

I base my response on actual conversations with regular people who have had to kill someone in self defense and watch them die (even if they are criminals). I base it on the discussion psychiatrists have had regarding the kind of severe, immediate assault on your mind when you are going through being in a stressful situation where YOUR life is at risk, and to defend it you wind up taking another person’s life. And these are people that know they had no choice, feel they did the right thing, and it still is a big stressor for them.

Plus going through the whole being arrested and treated like a suspect rather than a victim of violence, by the police, then waiting for it to be ruled a justifiable shooting, and then waiting to see if the crook’s survivors file a civil lawsuit against you, going through lengthy and stressful legal processes.

It is tremendously stressful. From your reaction I can tell you have never had to go through it.


66 posted on 06/16/2009 3:03:01 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
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To: Secret Agent Man
I base my response on actual conversations with regular people who have had to kill someone in self defense and watch them die (even if they are criminals).

Sorry. I didn't realize you were "special".

67 posted on 06/16/2009 3:15:13 PM PDT by Glenn (Free Venezuela!)
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To: Valpal1

“Using the term “shooting to wound” just indicates that you are an ignorant putz that watches too much tv.”

Well, Officer Expert ... thanks for your assessment. Careful .. there could be a 6 pound dog waiting for you around the corner. Be sure to kill it too. Wouldn’t want that militarized training to go to waste.


68 posted on 06/16/2009 3:51:10 PM PDT by mgc1122
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To: Glenn

You have a very large social problem. Do me a favor and stay the hell away from me on here.


69 posted on 06/16/2009 3:57:39 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
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To: Born Conservative
You know, if I ever have a mentally ill relative that seems to be bent on hurting themselves and appears to be mentally ill, the last people I am going to call are the police.

Isn't this the second mentally ill person the police have shot in the US in about 3 weeks? Wasn't there an article about some guy that had a knife and was going to commit suicide so the cops shot him because he wouldn't drop the knife.

The fact is, in these cases the cops escalate the situation by going into the room with the person, instead of leaving again when the person won't drop the knife and calling for a doctor(because the person in mentally ill)they just shoot the person, because they can. The same reason so many of them shoot people's dogs.

70 posted on 06/16/2009 4:04:23 PM PDT by calex59
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To: mgc1122

Let me know when you find a Use of Force manual that includes a “shoot to wound” section.

Let me spell it out for you. A gun is a deadly weapon. If you use it, you’d better be sure that lethal use of force is justified and necessary or you are engaged in an illegal use of force.

“Shoot to wound” is by definition an illegal use of force as well as an immoral one. You either shoot to kill or you do not shoot.

Putz.


71 posted on 06/16/2009 4:08:22 PM PDT by Valpal1 (Always be prepared to make that difference.)
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To: mgc1122
Educate yourself.

Why shooting to wound doesn't make sense scientifically, legally or tactically

72 posted on 06/16/2009 4:28:17 PM PDT by Valpal1 (Always be prepared to make that difference.)
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To: Secret Agent Man
You have a very large social problem.

But no personal problems, as do you. I'll settle for that.

73 posted on 06/16/2009 4:42:37 PM PDT by Glenn (Free Venezuela!)
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To: No Surrender No Retreat

You were called a racist because you were being racist.


74 posted on 06/16/2009 7:41:54 PM PDT by SampleMan (Socialism enslaves you & kills your soul.)
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To: SampleMan

You remind me of the video of the little black boy constantly saying “that’s racist.” In your eyes anything you disagree with is racist.

If being proud to be an American and proud of my race is racist, then so be it.

You are a bonafide Cop Hater and a bit delusional Sampleman.

Never!!


75 posted on 06/17/2009 6:21:20 AM PDT by No Surrender No Retreat
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To: No Surrender No Retreat
You remind me of the video of the little black boy constantly saying “that’s racist.” In your eyes anything you disagree with is racist.

I'd repost all of your racist comments, but the AdminMod has been pulling them off of FR. This thread alone is littered with your pulled posts.

76 posted on 06/17/2009 6:38:16 AM PDT by SampleMan (Socialism enslaves you & kills your soul.)
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To: SampleMan

I did see your post pulled and that symbolic of the pot calling the kettle black.

The problem is your lack of understanding of the law based on facts, not the emtional tripe which you chose to embrace.

Have now or ever been or worked in law enforcement? If so, at what level and capcacity. Do you have a graduate degree in Criminal Justice? Have you ever held a top secret clearance? Are you a member of any fraternities that does benevolent work for all races? Are you just a plain liberal loser, who thinks they are superbad on the computer with afore thought and malice?

Top that Sampleman!

NSNR


77 posted on 06/17/2009 2:02:15 PM PDT by No Surrender No Retreat
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To: No Surrender No Retreat
You're off subject on the wrong thread.

The only post I had pulled, was at my request due to it no longer being relevant after your post was pulled.

As for the law, go to the correct thread you are talking about and you will see the law from Oklahoma verbatim concerning it being a crime to interfere with EMTs and to detain them in any way.

If you want to continue making a fool of yourself, and want me to address your particular failings, go back to the thread you're talking about. Other people are probably tracking along and I'd hate for them to miss out on the little trip to the wood shed you've been experiencing. As I said before, I'd be happy to address your failing on this thread, but the moderator already removed the posts in question.

78 posted on 06/17/2009 2:29:09 PM PDT by SampleMan (Socialism enslaves you & kills your soul.)
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To: No Surrender No Retreat
Have now or ever been or worked in law enforcement?

I've eaten donuts and shot people.

Do you have a graduate degree in Criminal Justice?

I have several degrees and a firm understanding of the Constitution.

Have you ever held a top secret clearance?

Still do.

Are you a member of any fraternities that does benevolent work for all races?

Yep. And I do so with being a racist.

Are you just a plain liberal loser, who thinks they are superbad on the computer with afore thought and malice?

It must frustrate you a great deal to not be able to wave your badge at me and make me fear you. You have all the traits of a very, very insecure person who went into law enforcement for all of the wrong reasons and enjoys playing petty tyrant where you can talk about "putting people in their place" and "cuffing and stuffing" EMTs to show them who is boss.

But you have no power over me. You are impotent. Your badge has absolutely no power here to fight your battles for you. You must think on your own, and you have done a truly miserable job of it. Top that Sampleman!

79 posted on 06/17/2009 2:39:58 PM PDT by SampleMan (Socialism enslaves you & kills your soul.)
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To: SampleMan

Thank you for the true projection concerning your persona. I presume you think of yourself as a “anti-law enforcement crusader” out to rescue all the poor criminals from the evil tentacles of the law.

As for myself, I am retired now basking in the ambience of the good life. I as a LEO in my career treated all with whom I came in contact with firm, but fair. I used my discretion wisely and never had a complaint lodged against me. I was well liked in all the various ethnic communities because I treated everyone the same. Criminals and fools will always hate the police for we are the enemy to them.

The reality is most people in life want the same thing, a secure job, a nice home, good family and good medical care. Those are the things in life most seek to achieve through hard work and dedication.

When one has a different opinion other than your’s does not mean they are a racist. It is called choice. Choice is a selection/discrimination or preference.

If the admin moderator feels my posts you alleged are racist, then he or she will take the appropriate action.

Last of all you were the one who called me Racist Trash after I made the comment what you would supported had the trooper been black and the Sr. EMT white. I know your type of character and you will always be anti-law enforcement/anti-authority.

In closing, I think you must have had some bad dealings with law enforcement in your history. Reasonable sane and prudent people know that there like any other profession in life, there will be a few unworthy to uphold the position.

Your’s Truly,
NSNR


80 posted on 06/17/2009 3:12:30 PM PDT by No Surrender No Retreat
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