An NYPD Sergeant killed a 66-year-old woman after she attacked him with a bat in the Bronx Tuesday. Officers are now trying to figure out why the man used a gun and not his taser. A neighbor called police after Deborah Danner was reportedly acting in a “irrational manner.”
This was actually not the first time officer had responded to that home. Sgt. Hugh Barry entered Danner’s home where she was holding a pair of scissors and threatening police. Barry, an eight-year department veteran working in the 43rd Precinct, finally convinced Danner to drop the scissors. This is when she picked up a bat and started swinging a “close distance of an amount of feet.”
Assistant Chief Larry Nikunen says,
“As she attempted to strike the sergeant, he fired two shots from his service revolver, striking her in the torso,”
The woman was taken to the hospital t 7:15 p.m where she died. The question is, why didn’t the officer grab his taser. Nikunen says,
“The sergeant was armed with a Taser. It was not deployed, and the reason it was not deployed will be part of the investigation and review.”
Barry has now been placed on modified duty, stripped of his gun and shield, pending the outcome of the investigation. Public Advocate Letitia James and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. says the shooting was unacceptable.
“This elderly woman was known to the police department, yet the officer involved in this shooting failed to use discretion to either talk her down from her episode or, barring that, to use his stun gun.”
There is now be a investigation on the killing.
Source: NYDailyNews
