Of the 723 people killed by police year-to-date, 120 of them were said to be armed with knives. The latest victim to fall for the crime of having a knife in the presence of the police was 54-year-old Susan Muller from Queens, New York. According to news reports, Ms. Muller, who suffered from mental illness and was known to members of her local precinct, called 911 to report that an intruder had entered her apartment.
“The 54-year-old woman came at the officers with a knife and lunged at them. One of the officers gave directions to put the knife down. We know this because there was body camera video. Subsequently, one officer discharges his service weapon three times, striking the female in the torso,” Shea said.
There were a total of 50 seconds between when police first entered the apartment to when the first shot was fired.
Investigators recovered a knife at the scene. They said this was not the first time police have been called to the home.
It took less than a minute between the time the cops entered her apartment and the moment they pumped three bullets into Susan’s body. Was that enough time for them to adequately analyze the situation? Why didn’t they pull back and give her the time and space to calm down?
I was also struck by the universality and uniformity of the language used to describe encounters between cops and people with knives. It’s always that they commanded their victims to drop their weapons who then “suddenly lunged” at them causing them to discharge their firearms with deadly consequences. Of course, the first question oversight entities should then ask is, "Why the fuck did you get all up in their faces so that they can actually lunge at you with a 10" (?) knife?”
I doubt that Ms. Muller grabbed a knife with the intention of stabbing the responding cops.
Someone in my family came home and thought that there was an intruder in the apartment. Lights were on that should have been off, the door of a traveling roommate was locked from the inside, the air conditioning unit could be heard buzzing from the room, and so there was a fear that an intruder was in the apartment. The first thing they did was to grab a knife for self-defense, then they called 911. I was on the phone with her when the doorbell rang signaling that the cops had arrived. She told me that she’d call me back and as I sensed that she was lowering the phone in preparation to dealing with them, I began to shout — in a panic, really — for her to get rid of the knife before opening the door. She did. I suspect that Ms. Muller had the knife as a defense against a real or imagined intruder and that she had no intention of hurting the cops. Significantly, the cop who shot her three times in the torso within a minute of getting to her apartment was not from her home precinct. Here was a case of a newcomer to the area making hasty/murderous decisions even as none of the other cops thought that their lives were in danger. This was a murder that was totally avoidable. Will the other cops stand by the murderer? I would be pleasantly surprised if they didn’t.
The USA is unique in the inability of her cops to disarm knife-wielding suspects. Certainly, civilians armed with knives are killed at a far greater rate here than any other first world country. Chinese cops, for example, have long mastered the art of separating would-be stabbers from their weapon of choice. Check out the video below:
As you have seen, the cops in the video were armed with patience, shields, a strategy, and an appreciation for the value of the human life. I’m happy to report that at least one police department has decided to follow suit.
The Camden Police Department gives me hope
Somewhere in New Jersey, a man is alive today because the Camden Police Department decided to give patience a try. Unlike the cops in New York who took 50 seconds to take out Susan, in Nov. 2015, Camden cops took 45 minutes to talk to a mentally disturbed man and were able to subdue him without having to resort to bullets.
But in Camden, one of the poorest and most violent cities in the country, police have for the past few years been taking a new approach. "We stress to our officers that you do not have to rush in and rapidly resolve every scenario," said Lieutenant Kevin Lutz, who has overseen the shift in tactics.
"It's OK to slow down, it's OK to take a step back. Sometimes the best thing is to holster your weapon and talk."
I’m encouraged that this is not just one or two cops within a department exercising their personal discretion and deciding to do the right thing, but rather, a whole department making it the policy to do the right thing. Despite my admiration for Lieutenant Kevin Lutz and his men, however, I did notice one glaring difference between the Chinese cops and the CPD. The Chinese cops had shields. Why are American cops so disdainful of using shields? Are they [the shields] not manly enough?
One hundred and twenty people killed by police in nine months because they were said to be armed with knives. One hundred and twenty lives that could have been spared if the responding cops had only chosen to employ empathy, some patience, and some sophistication. Most of those killed were also mentally challenged and needed loving care rather than bullets and violence. Such was the case with Susan Muller.
RIP, Susan. Condolences to your loved ones.