Detroit police chief suspends 3 after woman's fatal shooting
DETROIT (AP) — Detroit's police chief has suspended two officers and a supervisor following last week's fatal police shooting of a woman who struggled with an officer for a gun after she allegedly assaulted her young son and mother.
Detroit Police Chief James White said Monday he will recommend to the city's Board of Police Commissioners that all three be suspended without pay. He also directed the Office of Professional Development to determine if the supervisor should be considered for a reduction in rank.
White took the steps after the woman became the second person apparently suffering from mental illness to be shot to death by Detroit police in just over a month.
The woman's mother had called 911 twice last Thursday and said her daughter had struck her and her grandson, was armed with a knife and a bat and had access to a gun, White said last Friday.
The woman, whose mother said she suffered from schizophrenia, was in a home on Detroit's west side with two young children when officers rushed in and she began struggling over a gun with one officer, he said. The three other officers fired four rounds at the woman, who did not fire the gun.
White said one of the suspended officers fired his weapon during the alleged struggle.