"We respect the grand jury's decision and look forward to the swift resolution of the case."
State Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda today called today's indictment of an NYPD police sergeant in the shooting death of a mentally disturbed elderly woman in his Assembly District "a step that will now bring the issue into a court of law, where justice can prevail."
NYPD Sergeant Hugh Barry was indicted by a Bronx grand jury on murder, manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges in the Oct. 18, 2016 shooting death of 66-year-old Castle Hill resident Deborah Danner, who had a long history of mental illness.
Police said Danner came at the officer in her Pugsley Avenue apartment, swinging a bat at him "at a close distance." The officer fired two shots, hitting her. She died later at Jacobi Hospital.
At issue is whether the officer, an eight-year department veteran working in the 43rd Precinct, had time to use his Taser stun gun to stop her.
"I was not there, but it would seem, and apparently the grand jury believes, that the officer had time to use a non-lethal weapon to stop Miss Danner," said the Assemblyman. "It is a shame that Deborah Danner had to die. We respect the grand jury's decision and look forward to the swift resolution of the case."
