Despite requests from city officials for an independent review, the state attorney general says he will not investigate whether the police shooting of a mentally ill Bronx woman was justified. NY1's Dean Meminger filed the following report.
His union presdient says Sergeant Hugh Barry had to make a quick decision Tuesday when he shot and kill Deborah Danner, a mentally ill person swinging a bat. The union official showed NY1 an NYPD target to make the point that police train for such a scenario.
"We are taught a baseball bat is a deadly weapon. And we also do other training to which a baseball bat is utilized. It is still a sad situation no matter which way we look at it. "
Barry has been stripped of his gun, and both the mayor and police commissioner have called Danner's death avoidable, angering the sergeant's union.
Meanwhile, state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office will not investigate because Danner had a bat. Under an executive order by Governor Andrew Cuomo, independent investigations by the AG's office of police killings can occur only when the victim is unarmed.
Schneiderman said, "After reviewing the available facts and evidence, our Special Investigations and Prosecutions Unit has determined that this incident falls beyond my office's jurisdiction."
Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark says her office will be doing a full, reasoned and independent investigation into the shooting.
Sergeant Barry recently was instructed in how to de-escalate confrontations, but he was not among 4,400 officers who have received new crisis intervention training in how to deal with the mentally ill or emotionally disturbed. That training includes instruction in de-escalation techniques, gaining voluntary compliance, active listening and displaying empathy.
The sergeants' union insists Barry followed protocol, noting he got Danner to drop a pair of scissors before she picked up the bat.
"Had she gone with them, we would be writing him up right now for a medal," Mullins said. "But the event changed, and sadly, this is the outcome."
The Department of Investigation and NYPD inspector general have been investigating how police are trained to handle the mentally ill. Their inquiry will now include the death of Deborah Danner.