February 17, 2006
Woman, 65, shot dead by cops after altercation with neighbor
A Staten Island woman known for her history of eccentric behavior was shot by a police sergeant after lunging at him with a knife. The incident began when she began ringing her neighbors' doorbells at 4.30 in the morning. That led to a confrontation with one of her neighbors over her cat. The neighbor stabbed the cat in the eye with a kitchen knife, and then was stabbed herself. Police arrived, ordered the woman to drop her knife, and shot her when she didn't comply.
It's a shame this is how things played out. From the Times: "Residents said that they saw Ms. Lindboe walking barefoot in the snow, or heard her doing her laundry at 5 a.m. She was known to walk naked in front of her windows, and was rarely seen wearing anything other than a nightgown. Music from the 1930's would blare from her apartment at odd hours."
One retired officer makes a good point about public perception of these indicdents: Philip J. Messina, a retired New York Police Department sergeant, said that a problem in explaining such occurrences afterward is, "the public's misconception about distances, how long it takes a person to cover distances, and just how deadly a knife can be." At close range, a knife is superior to a gun, Mr. Messina said. "The person with the knife is in an offensive mindset and fighting to win," he said, "and the cop with the gun is fighting just not to lose."
[Source]
categories:
EDP,
NYPD,
Staten Island,
Weapon: Knife
posted by adm at February 17, 2006 11:10 AM
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