THIS VIDEO FOOTAGE, published by The Guardian, shows how police in Idaho dealt with a call out to respond to reports of a woman brandishing a knife outside a hospital.
35-year-old Jeanetta Riley – who, her family say, had mental health issues – was driven to the hospital by her husband Shane after she had threatened to kill herself, the newspaper reported.
He asked hospital staff to call the police after she pulled out a knife at the facility.
Riley – who was pregnant at the time of her death, and who had been dealing with drug and alcohol addiction problems – was shot dead within 15 seconds of officers arriving.
The 35-year-old was killed on 8 July last year.
In a lengthy article detailing the contrasting public and media reactions to the police shooting of Riley, and the killing of a pet dog by a police officer less than 50 miles away, the Guardian reported at the weekend how the two officers who shot the woman were cleared of wrongdoing by a local prosecutor.
Journalist Paul Lewis writes:
The second shooting, in nearby Coeur d’Alene, sparked uproar. There were rallies, protests, sinister threats against the officer responsible, and a viral campaign that spread well beyond the town and drew an apology from the mayor. The killing was ruled unjustified, and the police chief introduced new training for his officers.
The victim of the second shooting: a dog named Arfee.
The piece sparked an intense debate on social media and in the paper’s comments section.
In the latest US police shooting to make the headlines, a white South Carolina officer has been charged with murder after shooting dead a black motorist.
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