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NASHVILLE, TENN. – The family of a woman who was shot dead by metro police officers said more should have been done to defuse the situation before she was shot.
Three subway cops arrived at a house Friday night on Greer Road in Nashville to find a woman with a pickaxe and a baseball bat. The emergency call was for a suicidal person who wanted to be shot.
Bodycam video of the incident has been released. Warning: some may find the video below disturbing
The video shows an officer trying to put her down. He spends minutes trying to negotiate a surrender while two other officers are on alert. Metro police say that as they speak, the woman appears fairly calm without any overt aggression.
But then her mother comes in and tries to intervene. Officers say that’s when things get worse, removing the option of waiting for the woman to surrender.
“Under normal circumstances where the mother does not intervene … this is exactly how it would have been,” said Metro Police Commander Scott Byrd.
Moments later, negotiations fail and an officer deploys the taser.
“They tried the less lethal approach initially. But the Taser didn’t work. It enraged her,” said Chris Taylor, Metro chief of staff.
A little less than three seconds later, another officer fires his gun twice. The woman collapses.
“It’s unreasonable. It was quick. They didn’t give the Taser a chance to work,” said Michael Crestman, the woman’s brother.
He said he understands his sister put the officers in an extremely difficult situation, but thinks they should have waited for him.
“They knew she was suicidal. She told them to come and shoot her, so they did,” Crestman said. “It should have been approached differently. I saw a bit of a lunge, but there was some distance. It would be different if she had a gun.”
Commander Byrd says the distance between the lone officer and the woman with a big pickaxe was small. The moment she was moved, she stepped forward. “It’s close. When you get to someone with a long handle and the ability to reach him was threatening.”
When she stepped forward, the other officer felt he had no choice but to shoot and end the threat. The woman was struck twice with lacerations to her kidneys, colon and injured spinal cord.
She remains in critical condition at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The Metropolitan Police say they are working closely with the mayor’s office and the mental health co-op to find new and better possible responses to all mental health appeals.
The officers involved remain on paid administrative leave while the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation investigates.
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