Toledo police officers Rebecca Kenney, 34, and Diane Chandler, 33, shot 62-year old Linda Hicks four times, twice in the head, with their taser gun. [SOURCE]
The taser gun was used in 'drive stun' mode. The taser, fired by Officer Chandler misfired, the barbs didn't shoot out, so Officer Chandler connected her taser directly to Linda Hicks ... this type of contact is known as 'drive stun' ... driving the taser gun into physical contact with the intended subject.
Linda Hicks died immediately.
One would think that this elderly woman must have been robbing a bank or running away from a bicycle traffic stop or something truly evil. One would be wrong. Linda Hicks was a mentally-ill woman laying down in bed when the police arrived. Now she's dead.
The woman who cares for mentally ill people in her home, Tanya Murphy, called 911 earlier in the evening when Mrs. Hicks became agitated. Murphy told the 911 operator that Ms. Hicks had a history of schizophrenia and was not taking her medication. Ms. Murphy had difficulty discussing the incident yesterday and would only say: "She came at me with the scissors."
Gloria Wright, who went to school with Ms. Hicks, said she believed the woman could have been subdued without lethal force. "They could have shut the door," she said. "They could have shot her in the leg."
Toledo police chief Mike Navarre shared the following description of the taser-related killing:
Linda Hicks died immediately.
One would think that this elderly woman must have been robbing a bank or running away from a bicycle traffic stop or something truly evil. One would be wrong. Linda Hicks was a mentally-ill woman laying down in bed when the police arrived. Now she's dead.
The woman who cares for mentally ill people in her home, Tanya Murphy, called 911 earlier in the evening when Mrs. Hicks became agitated. Murphy told the 911 operator that Ms. Hicks had a history of schizophrenia and was not taking her medication. Ms. Murphy had difficulty discussing the incident yesterday and would only say: "She came at me with the scissors."
Gloria Wright, who went to school with Ms. Hicks, said she believed the woman could have been subdued without lethal force. "They could have shut the door," she said. "They could have shot her in the leg."
Toledo police chief Mike Navarre shared the following description of the taser-related killing:
"They were told basically that this Linda Hicks had not been taking her medication, had been threatening people, was acting up, was agitated, and, we are told, she had this pair of scissors in her hand that she was threatening people with, so they went upstairs," the chief said.
"The bedroom door was shut; they knocked; they opened the door; Linda Hicks was laying on the bed; she had her hands under a pillow - appeared that she may have something in her hands."
Ms. Hicks refused to comply when the two female officers ordered her to show her hands. They then tried to subdue Ms. Hicks with a Taser.
The chief said Ms. Hicks then got up from the bed with the scissors in her left hand, became very agitated, and told the officers, "'I'm going to kill you or you are going to have to kill me.'"
"Officer Chandler and Officer Kenney both indicated that Linda Hicks advanced toward Officer Chandler with scissors in a raised position … and Officer Chandler fired four times," Chief Navarre said.
Both officers are off duty and will be on administrative leave. The chief said the investigation would take three to four weeks.
A mentally-ill 62-year old woman is in the morgue today. Something is seriously wrong when the police use their taser guns instead of commonsense. That is my initial thought. What say u?
A mentally-ill 62-year old woman is in the morgue today. Something is seriously wrong when the police use their taser guns instead of commonsense. That is my initial thought. What say u?
