Mayor: Bronx Shooting 'Unacceptable,' 'Didn't Have to Happen'

NEW YORK, NY — Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill admitted in the bluntest terms possible that the police department did the wrong thing in killing a 66-year-old woman in the Bronx on Tuesday night.

"What is clear in this one instance: We failed," O'Neill told reporters Wednesday morning. "That's not what was supposed to happen. That's not how we are trained."

De Blasio held a separate press conference later in the day in which he was contrite and apologetic, admitting to mistakes that took place in the protocol.

"The shooting of Deborah Danner is tragic and it is unacceptable," de Blasio said. "It should never have happened. It's as simple as that, it should never have happened."

According to police, Sgt. Hugh Barry responded to a 911 call of a mentally disturbed woman at her apartment in the Castle Hill section of the Bronx just after 6 p.m. After first convincing her to drop a pair of scissors, Barry then shot Danner twice in the chest when she picked up a baseball bat and swung it at the sergeant.

The mayor stressed the proper procedures were not followed by Barry. An Emergency Services Unit, specifically trained to handle cases involving people with mental health issues, was on the way to the scene, de Blasio said.

"[Danner's sister, Jennifer] was ready to go with the police, with her sister, to the hospital. She had spent decades trying to help her sister," de Blasio said. "She was standing there in that hallway, ready to meet the doctors and see what they could do. She did not expect in any way to hear gunshots ring out."

The incident sparked outrage among the community and claims of use of excessive force. Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. issued a statement just hours after the shooting, calling it "an outrage, especially given the New York Police Department's knowledge of this woman's history and the police officer's possession of a stun gun."

"[The city] is upset, they are angry, and they want answers," de Blasio said. "And we will provide those answers as quickly as we can and as well as we can."

Barry has been stripped of his gun and badge and will serve on desk duty as the incident is investigated, according to the NYPD. Barry went through retraining the city instituted in the wake of Eric Garner's death and was trained in de-escalation techniques.

De Blasio said the NYPD has responded to 128,781 calls for emotionally disturbed people so far this year and emphasized this was "shocking" and "a very individual situation."

The city will carry out a full investigation of the incident, and de Blasio was very candid in admitting the results of that investigation would determine the legal ramifications of the killing.

"We’ve seen repeatedly that whether these people are mentally disturbed or on drugs, on PCP, police don't seem sufficiently trained to handle the situation," said Deborah Denno, Founding Director of the Neuroscience and Law Center at Fordham University. "It seems like police training should be better than that. It certainly seems like a disproportionate use of force."

Communities United for Police Reform, a group which works to end discriminatory policing in New York City, took issue with de Blasio's assertion this was a unique case. Monifa Bandele, a spokesperson for the group, said the investigation should be handled by a special prosecutor appointed by New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

"It remains puzzling why the mayor seems to be claiming this is an anomaly, disregarding the lives of other New Yorkers taken in similar circumstances during his tenure," said Bandele, who cited the 2012 police shooting of Ramarley Graham in the Bronx as a case where no police officer has been punished over four years later.

The death hit particularly close in an administration which has repeatedly tried to tackle mental health issues. De Blasio instituted a mental health program, called "Thrive NYC," which has a purpose of de-stigmatizing mental health conditions and getting people in the city help. De Blasio's daughter, Chiara, has been public about dealing with her issues of depression and wife Chirlane McCray has spoken at national conventions on mental health. McCray was honored on Oct. 6 with the 2016 Patient Advocacy Award at the American Psychiatric Association conference.

"We're deeply concerned about these uses of deadly force, particularly dealing with mental problems," said Kristen Clarke, Executive Director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, an organization which advocates for the rights of mentally disabled under law. "It is important law enforcement is sensitive to the unique needs of these individuals.

"This most certainly feels like a situation here where we didn’t need to be dealing with a fatality."

Photo Credit: De Blasio and O'Neill at a crime briefing in early October via Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office