NYC mayor: Police shooting of woman, 66, was ‘unacceptable’
New York City’s mayor castigated a police sergeant Wednesday for fatally shooting a mentally ill, 66-year-old woman brandishing a baseball bat, saying her “tragic” and “unacceptable” death resulted from failure to follow basic policies.
“Our officers are supposed to use deadly force only when faced with a dire situation. It’s very hard to see that standard was met,” a sombre Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “Something went horribly wrong here.”
The unusual rebuke came less than 24 hours after Deborah Danner, who is black, was shot to death in her Bronx apartment. And it came even as investigators were still looking into why the white officer didn’t call for an emergency services unit and didn’t use his department-issued stun gun.
“Deborah Danner should be alive right now, period,” the mayor said. “If the protocols had been followed, she would be alive. It’s as simple as that.”