An inquest jury found that two Seattle police officers were justified in fatally shooting a mentally unstable, pregnant, Black mom of four kids inside her apartment when she menaced them with knives back in 2017, NBC News reported.
The six King County coroner's inquest jurors unanimously determined that officers Steven McNew and Jason Anderson, who are both white, had no reasonable alternative to using deadly force. The findings drew an angry outburst from the father of Charleena Lyles, who shouted profanities at the officers, yelling, "You killed my daughter!"
The officers testified during the inquest that Lyles, who had previously threatened other officers with shears and spoke of morphing into a wolf, had been calmly speaking with them after calling to report a purported burglary when she suddenly lunged at one of them with a knife.
King County prosecutor says Lyles' death is a tragedy
As the officers drew their weapons on Lyles, she yelled "Do it!" and cursed at them. The officers repeatedly yelled for the mom to get back before firing, hitting Lyles seven times. According to the Seattle Times, the jury found that even if the officers had a Taser during their encounter with Lyles, it would not have been an effective or appropriate option as she advanced on them in the close confines of her apartment.
The officers recalled in an emotional testimony that Lyles' crying baby crawled over and climbed on top of her as she died. Her son also came out of the bedroom and told them, in tears, "You shot my mother."
Lyles was 15 weeks pregnant at the time of her death. King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg issued a statement, saying that he would review the evidence presented at the inquest as well as the findings in deciding whether to press charges against the officers.
He added that Charleena Lyles' death is a tragedy and details of the incident shared at the inquest are heartbreaking. Her death unleashed a storm of public protest in Seattle and has been held up by advocates of police reforms as demonstrating institutional racism by law enforcement and unnecessary police violence.
Family members ask why officers did not use nonlethal methods on Lyles
Family members questioned why the police officers, who had been trained to deal with people showing signs of mental illness or other behavior crises, did not use nonlethal methods to subdue Lyles. Anderson did not have his Taser with him during the encounter, with the officer claiming that the battery was dead. Anderson was later suspended for two days without pay for his violation of department policy.
Under questioning from Karen Koehler, the family's lawyer, a Seattle police detective who helped review Lyles' shooting acknowledged that the officers had made no plan for dealing with her aside from not allowing the mother to get behind them.
Lyles' family settled a civil lawsuit against the officers and the Seattle Police Department for $3.5 million last year, according to King 5.
