Insufficient facts, but you might consider the Tueller drill. Interestingly, it was largely confirmed by the Myth busters.

http://youtu.be/9igSoJHEdUo

Don't worry, the police will be cleared. They're getting a paid vacation now, how terrible for them.
Or do I misunderstand 'paid administrative leave'??

I remember the story of an even younger teenage boy who was shot dead after his parents called the police because he was suicidal. He too brandished a knife. It seemed like the worst possible outcome. They said that he wouldn't drop it. It seems to me that they could secure the perimeter and wait it out. Perhaps he would have killed himself, but a knife is less lethal than a flurry of bullets.

I'd like to say that the police should be able to take down a teenage girl brandishing a knife but her act may have been quite aggressive. There are times that lethal force is understandable.

Without more information, it's too early to make any sort of an informed judgment.

Is there security camera footage? What happened before and during the call (what was the content of the call)? How were the officers equipped? Why did three officers respond? What did the woman do? What was the duration of the incident? What did the officers know at that time?

Right now, there simply is not enough known. Is it possible that there were alternative outcomes? Certainly, there always are, but let's not go all Ferguson here.

Take the hint from Bill O Rights and look up the Tueller Drill.

PS - here we go in the court of public opinion, convened by people who not only were not there, but who have never encountered the situation, even in training.

Raddy's point is taken. Still, one would think that in a police station, someone would have a taser.

Raddy's point is taken. Still, one would think that in a police station, someone would have a taser. ~ Posted by: Cousn Dave at January 27, 2015 7:43 AM

Many police departments are no longer allowed to use those. Someone might get hurt.

You do mean "defuse" in your last line, right?

Hard to imagine there is not lobby footage.

Police react as if the outcome of an encounter with a weapon will be the worst case scenario. I'm neither defending or condemning how the police react, just pointing out that fact.

Encounters between the police and the mentally ill always have the possibility of not ending well because of the tendency for the police to assume the worst case scenario.

I don't know how to fix that problem.

Seriously, must be a form of non-lethal containment that can be used here.

*By the way, until an officer is charged with excessive use of force for one of these idiotic overreaches, they will continue to do so, spurred on that this must be appropriate action because no one's gone to jail for it yet.

A "small, 17 year old girl" injured my younger (police officer) brother so badly he required surgery and was out work months. Why? Because he would not draw his gun on her. Cops can and DO get hurt by people even without guns. Taser a 17 year old, people will be all up on your ass. Tackle a 17 year old, people will be all up on your ass. Pull a gun on a 17 year old, people will be all up your ass. Handcuff a 17 year old, people will be all up your ass. Cops just can't win. I don't know the particulars of this case, and it's nowhere near my brothers PD, so I'm not commenting on this case. But to say a cop, or even more than 1, can easily disarm and take into custody someone just because they are younger or smaller is simply not true. (We've all seen the skinny methheads buck off 3 or 4 cops while resisting arrest, on Cops on tv, after all).

Plus, did she cooperate with the cops orders? Are they psychic, and able to tell she had no gun or bomb or other weapon on her as well? I read earlier today (can't swear it's correct, haven't had time to verify) that more US cops have been killed since 9-11 than US soldiers in Afghanistan in the same time frame.

"PS - here we go in the court of public opinion, convened by people who not only were not there, but who have never encountered the situation, even in training."

And this is why you're not allowed to complain about Obama any longer, Rad - you're not in the White House and you're not trained to be the President.

Without more information, it's too early to make any sort of an informed judgment.

Pity the cops didnt have the same mentality

Jerry: "Hard to imagine there is not lobby footage."

There is both video and audio. The police are not releasing it.

"And this is why you're not allowed to complain about Obama any longer, Rad - you're not in the White House and you're not trained to be the President."

Is it medication, Gog? Read the link. I don't post without objective support. Your posts have lately been signed by emotions.

momof4: "I read earlier today (can't swear it's correct, haven't had time to verify) that more US cops have been killed since 9-11 than US soldiers in Afghanistan in the same time frame."

Might be true.

2,238 U.S. soldiers were killed in action in Afghanistan through August, 2014, including 1,819 killed by hostile action, and not including 92 killed in action in support operations in other countries. 1,173 U.S. civilian were killed.

2,051 cops were killed in the line of duty from 2001 through 2013. So it's probably close.

Most of the cops were killed in accidents. According to the FBI, 76 cops were killed in 2013: 49 in accidents, 26 shot and 1 hit by a car.
According to Officer Down Memorial Page, 11 officers have died in the line of duty in 2015: 4 in vehicle accidents, 1 during a vehicle pursuit, 1 by a 9/11 related illness, 2 by heart attack, 1 struck by a vehicle, and 2 by gunfire (one of which was a dog and the other by accident)

Since 2001 cops have killed about 7 times more Americans than enemies in Afghanistan.

I work every night in a place that's full of people with serious mental illnesses. Many are psychotic, many have bipolar disorder and are manic, many are agitated and/or paranoid, some are hostile and aggressive, and some are sociopaths.

Every once in a while - maybe 4 or 5 times a week - we have to deal with someone who ramps up and gets hostile. Over the past couple of years these have ranged from a 6 foot 5 inch 240 pound physically healthy young man (who punched a hole in the ceiling) to a 4 foot 10 inch 90 pound teenage girl.

I haven't had to deal with anyone wielding an actual knife, but sometimes they've had improvised weapons, which have included chairs and other heavy objects (swung or thrown), sharp wooden sticks (for hitting or stabbing), strips of metal torn from light fixtures and window frames (hitting, stabbing, slashing), computer cables and electric cords (whips or ligatures), socks with heavy objects in them (hitting or throwing), an x acto knife, razor blades and a scalpel.

So far we've been able to disarm and subdue every one of those individuals without threatening, swearing or shouting at them, and without inflicting any pain or injuries more serious than minor bruises or superficial abrasions - usually not even that - and a few more serious injuries sustained by staff.

Of course we are nurses and therapists, not trained police officers. Perhaps we would handle people differently if we had the training they have.

"Your posts have lately been signed by emotions."

Oh, stop it, Mister Spock. You say the sweetest things.

Of course we are nurses and therapists, not trained police officers. Perhaps we would handle people differently if we had the training they have.
Or the guns they carry for "our" protection.
Don't forget, cops lives have somehow become more important than those they 'protect & serve'.

"Oh, stop it, Mister Spock. You say the sweetest things."

Congratulations! It's now about you.

Meanwhile... Tueller drill. And none of us were there.

KenR: how do you distinguish between "an actual knife" and the "x-acto knife, razor blades and scalpel"?

Do you notice that since you didn't bring a gun to the room, you don't have to use it to keep it from being used on you? People forget or don't know that possession of the gun becomes the #1 priority when one is at the scene of an altercation (Gog, please note that police train on weapon retention for this reason.)

"And none of us were there."

Just like you can't criticize Obama or the TSA or the IRS because you don't sit in on their meetings and decisions.

Wonderfully freeing for you, isn't it?

Radwaste:"KenR: how do you distinguish between 'an actual knife' and the 'x-acto knife, razor blades and scalpel'?"

Just by visual observation.

But to be honest, though we had to take the x-acto, razor blades and scalpel by force, the people who had them intended to use them on themselves and not on us.

The Tueller drill is relevant only if you lack any othe way effective way of defending yourself against a knife attack. With a 3-1 advantage against a teenage girl, and probably all three of them larger and stronger than her, the cops only excuse could be that they are utterly untrained in dealing with knives - which is to say that they lack necessary training. All three of them...

More likely, they have the training, but are cowards and/or sociopaths.