A Los Angeles county sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a 27-year-old woman who had called 911 to report that she was under attack by a former boyfriend, police officials and lawyers for the victim’s family said on Thursday. Records show the deputy had killed another person in similar circumstances three years ago.
On 4 December, Niani Finlayson called police and “reported that her boyfriend would not leave her alone and then screaming and sounds of a struggle could be heard”, the LA sheriff’s department (LASD) said in a statement. When deputies arrived at the apartment in Lancaster, a city in the northern region of LA county, they could hear screaming, LASD said.
Finlayson was inside with her nine-year-old daughter and had been injured by her ex-boyfriend and wanted him removed, her family’s attorneys said. The exact circumstances that led to the fatal shooting are unclear and LASD has so far declined to release body-camera footage.
If her boyfriend was threatening to physically harm her or her child (he did injure her) and was preventing them from leaving, what do you suggest she do?
I’m not saying I have better options for her, and I’m not blaming her for her death because she called the police, but calling the police always carries a risk of completely unnecessary death, and that is a huge fucking problem for any victim of any crime.