Police kill woman wielding knife, She stole patrol car, then charged officers

By JERRY URBAN
Copyright 1997 Houston Chronicle - 10/31/97

Houston police Thursday shot and killed a woman who
stole a patrol car and later charged officers with a knife
alongside a near-downtown freeway.

The woman was killed about 4 p.m. after she wrecked a
patrol car at the U.S. 59 exit to San Antonio and Interstate
10. The woman wasn't carrying identification, and her name
was not immediately known by police.

"Three policemen come up, guns drawn and then are in 
shooting positions," said witness Steve Knouse, who was
driving home to Tomball when he came upon the wrecked
patrol car. "As soon as she saw the cops, she started going
 after them with a knife. She kept coming and coming.  And
 then there were three shots and she was down."        

 Moments before, Knouse said, the woman had come at him
 with the knife after he stopped to help her at the wreck
scene. The blade on the knife was about 8 inches long,  Knouse added.

Houston Police Department spokesman Alvin Wright said the series of events 
began when an officer was flagged down by a railroad worker in the 4800 block of  the Gulf Freeway. The officer was told the woman had been harassing railroad  workers in the area.

When the officer tried to talk to the woman, she pulled a knife on him and then   
jumped into the patrol car, which had the keys in the ignition, and drove off, Wright said.

While police searched for the car, the woman contacted an HPD dispatcher on   
the cruiser's radio. Walter Letien, a HPD dispatch supervisor, said the woman 
initially started "ranting and raving" on the radio.

A female dispatcher talked to the woman and seemed to calm her somewhat,          
Letien said. However, the dispatcher was not able to talk her into pulling the car over and identifying  her location.

The woman, Letien said, mostly spoke irrationally and said she wanted police 
 to kill her, apparently because she was distraught about her divorce. She was 
 heard on the police frequency calling herself  "Sandra from Kansas".

Police quickly located the woman after dispatchers were notified 
the patrol car had crashed along the freeway exit, where it struck a cement dividing wall and became lodged against it.

When police arrived, the car's emergency lights were still flickering.

Wright, the HPD spokesman, said only two of the three officers first  
on the scene fired their weapons, hitting the woman at least twice.

The officers, J.R. Johnston and M. Lem, who have been with the department 
about four years, ordered the woman to halt before firing their weapons, 
Wright said.                                                                                                                           
Knouse, the motorist who pulled over to help, said the woman was  
about 10 feet away from the officers when they shot her.

Asked if the officers had to shoot the woman, Knouse said:  "Absolutely, She was coming at them with a knife."

Clarence Lane, another man who tried to help the woman at the wreck,  said the officers were justified in shooting the woman.

"What would you do if somebody was coming after you with a knife?"  he said.

The Harris County District Attorney's Office along with HPD internal affairs officers and homicide detectives will review the shooting and what led up to it.

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