SF Chronicle editorial. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi- bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/11/03/EDGT42MT0V1.DTL
Back in the late 70's, the LAPD killed an elderly Black woman who was distraught over the So. Ca. Edison cutting off her house electricity. She threw a butter knife from a distance of twenty or so feet, did not come close, but, got a bunch of LAPD lead killing her. LAPD also killed a developmentally disabled kid playing w/ a toy gun in the 90's.
Death by misunderstanding
Monday, November 3, 2003
IT'S HARD to imagine how a 4-foot-9 inch, 98-pound woman with a kitchen utensil can be perceived as a threat to a heavily armed, highly trained police officer in bulletproof vest.
But last July, San Jose police officer Chad Marshall said the unimaginable happened, causing him to open fire on Cau Bich Tran, a tiny Vietnamese immigrant apparently in mental distress.
When police came to Tran's house to check on an "unsupervised'' child, they found her distraught and holding an Asian vegetable peeler. But Marshall mistook it for a cleaver and, fearing an attack, shot her.
A grand jury cleared Marshall of wrongdoing even though he killed Tran in front of her two small sons within 10 seconds of his arrival. (A week earlier, police confronted Tran under similar conditions, calmed her down in 15 minutes and left.)
So, while the death may have been a tragic accident -- in part the result of rapidly unfolding events forcing split-second decisions -- it was avoidable and decidedly unacceptable.
With Tran speaking little English, and Marshall no Vietnamese, it shows how a cultural gap becomes a fatal misunderstanding. It underscores the need for more diversified police forces that are better trained to respect and understand the many cultures within the Bay Area.