The Portland Press Herald reports in today’s paper the story of a Biddeford, Maine woman who called police saying she was armed and suicidal. Biddeford police responded and ended up shooting her dead.
There are several interesting things about this news story. The first is that the article indicates that the police “are declining to say what type of gun she had.”
That’s funny. Yesterday, when this story broke on the Portland Press Herald’s website, the paper indicated that it was a BB-pellet gun. Today, someone made the decision that they did’t want this fact (if it is true) in the paper. Why is that?
Another interesting thing is that the paper goes out of it’s way to repeat over and over that the shooting was justified. The police chief, as you might expect, immediately calls it justified and defends his officers. The article also talks about all the training the officers have received in responding to suicide calls and the use of deadly force.
Yet for all the training they received, one officer ends up shooting this woman to death. No matter how you look at it, this can’t be considered a good outcome to a suicide call.
Also, why was she shot 3 times? Did it really take that many shots to stop this 47–year old woman? The officer involved was behind a telephone pole and was with two other officers — why is it only one officer fired? Was she only pointing the weapon at just him?
The Biddeford police chief says that the entire incident was captured on a squad car’s video camera and that the tape has been turned over to the Attorney General’s Office.
So what?
Asking the Attorney General’s office to review a shooting in Maine seems to be just a rubber stamp of approval. In my memory, I don’t ever recall the AG’s office ever concluding that a shooting was unjustified. I’d like to know how many shootings the AG’s office has reviewed in the last few years and see if any of them resulted in anything other than a justified conclusion.
I want to make it perfectly clear that I have no idea whether or not this shooting was justified. The officer in question may well have acted properly.
And I have nothing but the utmost respect for police officers and know that they put their lives on the line like few others in this country. I also understand that it’s difficult to keep a cool head when your life may be in danger. Training simulations are one thing — real life situations are often very different.
But this woman called saying she “intended to kill herself.” She didn’t say she was going to kill someone else, that she was going on a shooting rampage, or anything like that. When the officers told her to put the weapon down, she said, “No, I will not.” She didn’t say she’d shoot them or that they better stay away.
Clearly, this woman needed help.
I just wonder, what more could have been done? How long were these officers questioning this woman? Could a specialist — a counselor, psychologist or someone like that have been called to talk with her? What efforts were made to find out more information about this woman? The woman’s brother apparently lives in the same apartment — could he have been contacted to help better understand why this woman was suicidal?
There are lots of questions at this point.