Prayers, Calls for Calm Following Police Shooting
- by Paula Vaughn
- in Culture
- — Oct 21, 2016
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz called the shooting an "outrage" and said the Bronx district attorney and NY state attorney general to investigate.
Danner shared the "Living with Schizophrenia" essay in July 2015 with state Mental Hygiene Legal Service attorney Charles J. Hargreaves, who represented her in a guardianship case. Police say they gave her verbal commands to put down the scissors. The NYPD has launched an investigation into the shooting.
"Even within the NYPD there are officers trained to handle emotionally disturbed people", activist Keegan Stephan told The Daily Beast.
Tuesday's killing evoked memories of the 1984 police killing of another 66-year-old Bronx woman.
Nearly half of the people who die at the hands of police have some kind of disability, according to a report from Ruderman Family Foundation, a disability organization in Boston.
"We also call upon the Attorney General of the United States Loretta Lynch's office to investigate the violation of my sister's constitutional rights", Danner said.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said she intends to conduct a "full, reasoned and independent investigation" into the shooting.
De Blasio said at a news conference Wednesday that officers are supposed to use deadly force "only when faced with a dire situation".
Nikunen added: "The sergeant was armed with a Taser".
The NYPD immediately put Barry on modified duty until the investigation was completed.
"If you have somebody in a certain area, time is on our side", he said.
After the shooting, NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio tweeted, "We're determined to get to the bottom of what happened".
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"As she attempted to strike the sergeant, he fired two shots from his service revolver, striking her in the torso", NYPD Assistant Chief Larry Nikunen told press yesterday.
"We need to know why the officer did not follow his training and follow those protocols", he said.
It is not known why Sgt Barry, who had been an officer for eight years and was equipped with a stun gun, did not follow his training.
"Yesterday, my sister's life was taken because she was ill", Jennifer Danner told reporters on Wednesday.
Sharpton said Wednesday that comments by Police Commissioner James O'Neill were "good and responsible" but should be the beginning of "systemic change".
Officers responded to a call for an emotionally disturbed person at a Pugsley Avenue apartment around 6 p.m. yesterday in Castle Hill.
According to police reports, she then grabbed a baseball bat and lunged at the officer.
He said it's "clear in this one instance" that "we failed". "I want to know why it happened", O'Neill said.
Police shootings have come to the fore in the U.S. in recent years, with the black community suffering disproportionately.
O'Donnell said that ideally, mentally unstable individuals should be protected and overseen to make sure they stay on their medications. The incident calls into question the New York City Police Department's use of force and the protocol that should be followed when dealing with "emotionally disturbed" people, The Atlantic reports.
The death hit particularly close in an administration which has repeatedly tried to tackle mental health issues.
