Pittsburgh officer accidentally tases child being held hostage by knife-wielding mom, police say

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A girl was "inadvertently" tased when Pittsburgh police said they tried to arrest her mom, who was holding her children hostage at knifepoint. 

According to the criminal complaint, officers got a call about a carjacking on Knox Avenue and Freeland Street around 3:30 p.m. on Thursday. A witness told police he saw a woman, who had a small child with her, pull a driver out of his vehicle and drive off. 

Police said the woman, later identified as Gwendolyn Gilmore, went to The Brashear Association on Brownsville Road to pick up her daughter. One witness there told police that Gilmore was yelling and screaming and waving around a knife. Another witness who didn't see the knife released Gilmore's daughter to her. 

Officers said they were able to track Gilmore down and found her squatting down along the back wall of a home on Moore Avenue with a 4-year-old boy on her back. The 10-year-old girl was sitting on the ground next to Gilmore, who police said was holding a small dagger. 

An officer pulled their gun on Gilmore and told her to drop the knife, but she didn't respond and instead started screaming. When police said they were switching to their tasers, they said Gilmore grabbed both children, wrapped her arms around their necks and pulled them close to her, moving the knife against the girl's neck.

An officer used their taser but said Gilmore moved at the last second. One probe hit the girl in the head and the other hit Gilmore, police wrote in the criminal complaint 

Police said they used their tasers on Gilmore several more times before they were able to get her to fall back and let go of her children. 

The girl who was hit by the taser started to have a seizure, police said. Medics arrived and she was taken to UPMC Children's Hospital, where she was "reported to be stable and in normal health," police said. She's since been released and is being cared for by a relative. The other child wasn't hurt and was also released to the care of a relative at the scene. 

After being taken to the hospital, Gilmore was taken to the Allegheny County Jail. She's facing a slew of charges, including endangering the welfare of children, recklessly endangering another person, simple assault, resisting arrest and robbery of a motor vehicle.

Pittsburgh Public Safety said the bureau reviews all use-of-force incidents involving city officers. "As such, an extensive review of the officer's tactics from yesterday will be conducted to ensure reasonable force was used," the department said. 

Pittsburgh Citizen Police Review Board reacts

Beth Pittinger, executive director of the Pittsburgh Citizen Police Review Board, said, "From what we know, they did a very good job at managing that situation and ended up protecting those children from further harm."

She said seizures are a potentially rare side effect of tasing, but she still wants to know if the child has a history of seizures, which could have played a factor.

"Physically, they'll be OK," Pittinger said. "But in terms of their psychological insult as a result of this by the mother, it's just unforgivable."

Pittinger said the board will review the actions police took that day. She added that this is treated no differently than when an officer shoots a gun.

"The officers, what other level of force would they use? Those children were faced with a threat, and I think they assessed that threat realistically and reasonably," Pittinger said.