The shooting of Sophia King
has renewed minority anger toward the Austin Police Department and thrust
Woman fatally shot by police
Authorities
say 23-year-old threatened house manager with a knife
By Jonathan Osborne and Claire
Osborn
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, June 12, 2002
The dead woman's family congregated Tuesday around her angry and tearful
mother where yellow police tape rounded the corner of Rosewood Avenue and
Poquito Street.
"They killed my baby," Brenda Elendu
screamed to anyone who would listen.
"They could have shot her in the leg. She was a mental patient. They
didn't
have to kill that child."
Across the intersection and down the block,
that Elendu's daughter, Sophia King, gave officers no
choice but to draw
their guns when they saw her wielding a knife as she stood over a person who
was on the ground.
"She was getting ready to stab a housing authority (employee),"
police Lt.
Robert Collins said. "She lunged. The officer fired one shot."
Reporters asked why not spray her with Mace or use a nightstick.
"There wasn't time for that," Collins said.
The bullet struck King in the heart, according to a preliminary finding by
the medical examiner's office. King, 23, who was not wearing any clothing at
the time of the shooting, died at
housing complex where she had lived for seven months.
Police are trained to react with deadly force if a person is trying to kill
an officer or someone else, Collins said.
A
John Coffey's decision to shoot was the right one. Coffey, a former
instructor at the police academy who specialized in teaching officers how to
defend themselves and others, has been placed on administrative leave,
pending an investigation, which is standard procedure when officers use
deadly force. The findings of that investigation, which will be closely
observed by the city's police monitor, will be presented to a grand jury.
Assistant Chief Rudy Landeros, who supervises
officers in the area, said he
could not recall Coffey being involved in a previous shooting. Information
from internal affairs records was not available Tuesday.
Jim Hargrove, the Austin Housing Authority's executive director, said King
had lived in public housing since 1997. Police and her family said she was
suffering from mental illness, and court officials said she had been in a
state mental facility.
After her first public housing apartment burned down because of an
accidental cooking fire in November, Hargrove said, King was moved to
Tuesday was the second time police had been called to King's apartment in
two days, and the housing agency had begun the process of evicting her for
consistently playing "loud music and conducting herself in an
inappropriate
manner," Hargrove said.
On Monday, officers checked in on her after the housing manager said
neighbors complained of loud music and King's erratic behavior over the
weekend, which included throwing trash out her door. The officers found
everything to be OK, Hargrove said.
At least one of the two officers who first responded to 911 calls Tuesday
knew of her mental disorder, Collins said.
Neither Coffey nor the other officer was part of the department's mental
health unit, and police said they didn't have time to call for backup.
However, Assistant Chief Rick Coy said every cadet receives at least six
hours of training to deal with people with mental illness. In this case, he
said, that would not have made a difference.
"The woman was standing right over the housing authority person with a
knife," he said. "The officer's use of force was to prevent serious
injury
and had nothing to do with mental illness."
Tuesday's incident started when King began tossing personal belongings such
as dishes, clothes and furniture into the courtyard and began screaming at a
housing manager, who was responding to neighbors' complaints, Hargrove said.
Emergency dispatch received two 911 calls. The first, at
hang-up, which police think was placed from King's apartment, Collins said.
They then received a call from a neighbor, complaining about the commotion.
When police arrived, King slammed the front door of her apartment and
refused to come out. Coffey went around to the courtyard.
Shortly before
an 8- to 10-inch butcher knife and began running toward the housing
employee, who stumbled and fell while attempting to flee.
Police said Coffey told King to drop the weapon several times. When she
stood over the fallen employee and raised the butcher knife, police said,
Coffey fired.
King leaves behind two children, ages 4 and 6, who went to live with their
grandmother about a year ago. Child Protective Services took the children
later Tuesday.
"We have some concerns about where the children were," CPS spokesman
Aaron
Reed said. "We want to make sure wherever they end up next, they will be
safe and cared for."
But what happened to their mother will be difficult to explain, said King's
aunt, Virgie Clement.
"They know their mother's emotionally unstable," she said. "but they won't
understand."
josborne@statesman.com; 445-3605
* * * * * * * * * *
Community wants answers in fatal police shooting
Many
people say woman was unarmed
By Claire Osborn
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, June 13, 2002
More than 200 people filled an East Austin parking lot Wednesday night
across the street from the public housing complex where, a day earlier,
Sophia King was shot and killed by police.
Many said they saw the incident, and they agreed on one thing: The mentally
ill woman was not holding a knife when
shot her Tuesday at the Rosewood Courts apartments. Police officials,
however, insisted King was shot because she was holding a knife.
"When I saw Sophia she did not have a weapon in her hand, and she was at
least eight to 10 feet away from the housing manager when police shot
her,"
said Manuel Miller, who said he was a witness.
Latrice Carter, King's cousin, said Sophia never
carried a weapon: "She
always fought with her bare hands."
Many people at the meeting blamed the shooting on racism because King was
black, and Coffey is white.
The local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People called for the parking lot meeting. Nelson Linder, chapter president,
said he wanted police to interview more witnesses and answer some questions,
including whether King was actually holding the knife and whether she lunged
at someone before she was shot.
"We want a full, complete and fair investigation," Linder said.
King's mother, Brenda Elendu, also spoke, with tears
running down her face.
"You don't have to gun people down. I don't care how crazy they are,"
Elendu
said, adding that her daughter had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. King
had always been afraid that she would be killed by police, Elendu
said.
King's mother said the family will be filing a wrongful death lawsuit
against the Austin Police Department.
Assistant Police Chief Rick Coy, who was not at the meeting, said he thought
King was holding a weapon when she was shot.
"When the investigation is concluded and the facts come out, it will be
clear that King was armed with a knife," Coy said.
Coffey shot 23-year-old King because she was standing with a raised butcher
knife over a fallen housing authority employee, who was in danger of being
seriously injured, Coy said.
The incident started when police received a 911 call Tuesday from one of
King's neighbors complaining about King tossing personal belongings into the
courtyard of the housing development and screaming at a housing manager.
King was in the process of being evicted from her apartment for playing loud
music and behaving inappropriately, a housing authority official said.
When Coffey and Cpl. George Jackoskie arrived
Tuesday, King slammed the
front door of her apartment and refused to come out. Coffey said that
shortly before
butcher knife and began running toward the housing employee, who stumbled
and fell while fleeing.
Coffey told King to drop the knife several times before King stopped and
stood over the fallen housing employee, police said. The whole incident
lasted four to five minutes, which wasn't enough time to call in mental
health deputies, Coy said.
Jackoskie already knew King from October 2001, when
he had her committed to
a psychiatric hospital. Coy would not comment on what led to that action,
saying the information was not public record. Police officers make about 60
emergency commitments of mentally ill people a month, Coy said.
Representatives from the Nation of Islam, who were also at the meeting in
the parking lot at Wells Grocery on Wednesday, said they thought police
should provide immediate training in mental illness for every officer.
"Police are supposed to provide community policing and not be terrorists
in
our community," said Jennifer Muhammad, one of the nation's
representatives.
Cedric Muhammad, another Nation of Islam member, said his organization
wanted a mediator involved in talks during the next couple of weeks between
the police and the black community.
The Texas Civil Rights Project sent a letter to Austin Police Chief Stan
Knee on Wednesday asking him to appoint a police and mental disability
commission that includes mental health specialists,
police and members of
the minority community.
The Texas Civil Rights Project also established a trust fund Wednesday in
King's name, said Virgie Clement, her aunt.
Coffey has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. The
findings of that investigation will be presented to a grand jury.
cosborn@statesman.com; 445-3630