Dennis Wetherington: Woman’s mental state immaterial if she was a threat to officers

Re “Husband of woman shot desperate for answers” (Front page, March 1): The March 1 article about the woman (Evin Yadegar) who was shot in Ripon last Sunday discussed her mental illness and insinuated that this should have led to more restraint on the part of law enforcement. As unfair as it might seem, the mental health of a person who is a threat to law enforcement officers or others is irrelevant. You will be just as dead if killed by a mentally ill person as you would be if killed by anyone else. The only thing that matters is the actions of the person who is a threat.

If the woman was driving her car toward officers, the initial presumption is that lethal force was justified.

Also, it is totally unrealistic to expect a law enforcement officer to determine on the spur of the moment the mental health of a threatening individual. Any individual who believes it is their duty to do so before resorting to lethal force is not qualified to be a law enforcement officer. The delay caused by this would create unreasonable additional risks for his coworkers and the public in an effort to avoid injury to the person whose actions created the threat.

This story was originally published March 6, 2017 at 4:46 PM with the headline "Dennis Wetherington: Woman’s mental state immaterial if she was a threat to officers."