WASHINGTON — The fatal shooting of an unarmed Australian woman in Minnesota isn’t by any means the first time police in the U.S. have mistakenly killed someone who called them for help or to report a crime.
Officers around the nation have mistakenly slain or wounded people in other cases, including a pregnant Seattle mother shot to death earlier this year after reporting a break-in and a Georgia man who in 2014 reported that his girlfriend had been stabbed and was fatally shot by the responding officer.
The death of Justine Damond, who was white, comes after several years of public debate about police use of force following the video-recorded deaths of black men at the hands of officers.
“Mainstream America is now looking at this and saying, ‘Wow, we’ve got a problem,’ and yet it’s been going on over and over,” said Brent Wilkes, executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens.
Matthew Barge, executive director of the Police Assessment Resource Center’s New York City office, said additional training for officers on when to draw and fire their weapons is always a good idea.
“Police officers can make mistakes because they’re human too,” said Barge, who has been the court-appointed monitor overseeing a federal agreement governing police in Cleveland.
Damond, a 40-year-old yoga instructor and life coach, called 911 twice on the night of July 15 to report a possible sexual assault behind her home before she was shot by Officer Mohamed Noor.
Noor’s partner, Officer Matthew Harrity, told investigators he was driving in the alley with all of the squad car’s lights off when he was startled by a loud noise that authorities did not describe. Harrity said Damond appeared at the driver’s side window “immediately afterward” and Noor fired, striking her in the abdomen. She died at the scene.
Noor has declined to be interviewed by state investigators.
Damond’s relatives in Australia have hired lawyer Robert Bennett, who represented the family of Philando Castile, a black motorist who was also gunned down by a Minneapolis-area officer. Bennett told The Star Tribune on Thursday that Damond was “the most innocent victim” of a police shooting he has ever seen.
Castile was fatally shot by the officer during a 2016 traffic stop in a St. Paul suburb seconds after he told the officer he was armed. Officer Jeronimo Yanez, who is Latino, was acquitted this year of manslaughter and two lesser charges.
“I’m not saying Philando wasn’t innocent too,” Bennett told the Minnesota newspaper. “But here is someone who called the police and was trying to stop someone from being hurt.” Instead, she “ends up being shot in her pajamas.”
Some observers have drawn comparisons between Damond’s death and that of Charleena Lyles, a 30-year-old pregnant mother.
