Woman killed by cops faced drug charges, bankruptcy, foreclosure

From the article, this was a clearly justified shooting. She lunged at officers with a knife, she had already threatened others with the same knife. The taser failed, there weren't any other options. In most Police Depts, they have banned the use of batons, so that is usually not an option. The gun was the last thing left. They had a non compliant dangerous individual who didnt have any concern for her own life or the lives of others. Lastly they shot her in the abdomen, that was clearly an attempt to disable rather than kill. The ME ruling of a homicide just means that she was killed by another human, it is not indicative of a crime. That part is being investigated, and should conclude based on these facts that the officers were correct in their actions.

SGT (Join to see) sounds like a good shoot. Not sure if there is a technicality in different ME reports for LE death vs criminal act.
Being Chicago, a part of me all winners if there is still something more to come out.

The standard that most states use for use of deadly force involving a knife is 28 feet, meaning that a person with a knife inside that distance can attack and strike before a normal person could respond (we are talking reaction time here, the amount of time it takes your eyes to see the movement, send it to your brain, your brain deciding to act, and then your brain telling your muscles to act, and finally your muscles responding), let alone if you have to un holster and then engage your weapon.

Most police departments do not require the use of a taser when the person has a deadly weapon (a knife is a deadly weapon) but it sounds like these officers did try that first. The taser is a good piece of equipment but it is not fool proof and it can fail or the shooter can miss the target, or the probe might not penetrate the persons clothes (a concern in cold weather when people have jackets on).

In the state of Illinois there are only 5 classifications that a ME can use for a death. Natural, Accidental, Suicide, Homicide, and Undetermined. Obviously this person was shot and died as a result. That makes it a homicide. It is then up to the District Attorney and a Grand Jury to decide if the use of force was justified (no different then if a citizen uses self defense to defend from an attack).