Law enforcement: What does it mean

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(Same cop did this 6 months earlier)

Police shots kill woman

Officers say she appeared to be stabbing herself

By DAWN WITHERS
The Salinas Californian

A Salinas woman was killed by Salinas police early Sunday morning after two officers believed she was lunging at one with of them with a knife or a ice pick.
Maria Irma De La Torre, 45, was shot twice in the torso around 3:45 a.m. by a police officer outside her home at 1143 East Laurel Drive. The officers have been placed on four days administrative leave pending an investigation.
"It's a wrongful death," said Diana Hernandez, De La Torre's niece, who added De La Torre suffered from epileptic seizures but had no history of violence or hurting herself during seizures. She was taking medication to control the seizures, Hernandez said.
De La Torre, Hernandez said, was a shy woman born in Michoacán, Mexico, but lived in Salinas "forever and a day." Hernandez said she was devoted to church and her family and because of her epilepsy was unable to work.
"It's grief everywhere," Hernandez said describing the family's mood. "My aunt, she didn't harm anyone, she was the kindest person."
According to information from the Salinas Police Department, officers responded to a 9-1-1 call "involving a woman acting strangely" at the residence.
Cmdr. Kelly McMillin said the officers thought their lives were endangered and reacted to protect their lives. De La Torre did not show any signs of having a seizure, McMillin said, and was unresponsive when police tried to talk to her.
"This is pure tragedy," McMillin said. "No one is happy the way this happened."
It is the first officer-involved shooting this year and the second since January 2007, McMillin said. The shooting last year didn't result in any injuries.
When the two officers arrived they found De La Torre sitting in a minivan in front of her home "stabbing herself in the neck with a small implement." She moved from the driver's seat to the passenger seat as the officers tried to remove her from the car, according to police.
The officers, who are not being named, had difficulty trying to restrain De La Torre while in the van, McMillin said, and claim De La Torre lunged at one of the officers with what they thought was a knife or ice pick, causing one of the officers to fire his Taser and the other officer to fire his gun shooting the woman twice.
The entire incident took place in less than 10 minutes, McMillin said, and the officers independently made the same decision to draw their weapons to stop De La Torre, one choosing his Taser, the other his gun.
McMillin said it turned out De La Torre had a metal crochet hook in her hand, not a knife or ice pick, and it isn't clear if it was the same item she used to stab herself.
De La Torre was taken to Natividad Medical Center and Hernandez said the family was notified of her death around 9 a.m. Sunday.
Police were still outside De La Torre's small green house Sunday afternoon with yellow crime scene tape blocking the driveway.
Hernandez, who did not see the shooting, said De La Torre had been sick in recent days following another death in the family and that her husband, Jose Licea, called Hernandez's mother, Hilda Hernandez, around 1 a.m. Sunday saying De La Torre was unwell and needed to go to the hospital.
Hilda headed over to De La Torre's house and called 9-1-1, Hernandez said, only to request an ambulance, not any police officers.
McMillin said the call that came to police was of a woman acting erratically and people who call emergency services can't request only an ambulance because medics won't to go an emergency that may be unsafe until police have secured it.
When police arrived, Hernandez said, they told Hilda to "move out of the way" so they could get to De La Torre, Hernandez said. Her mother, she said, didn't see the shooting but later called Hernandez saying, "They killed her! They killed her!"
Licea, Hernandez said, did see the incident and the officer who shot his wife. The family, she said, is hiring a lawyer to look into the shooting.
"She was handicapped," Hernandez said. "They could have Tased her."
McMillin declined to comment on the specifics of what was said at the scene, adding that police have several independent witness statements corroborating the officers' account and the evidence that's been gathered from De La Torre's home.
Family members are coming to Salinas from Texas and Mexico. Hernandez said memorial services will likely be held this week.

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