Villagers will be happy to see that the taser-related killing of 62-year old Linda Hicks has not been entirely swept under the rug. A new civil rights group is calling for the termination the Toledo police officer, Diane Chandler, who fatally shot a mentally ill woman on Dec 14, 2009. "We're not going to let this case go," Gerald Rose, founder and executive director of the Atlanta-based New Order National Human Rights Organization, said during a news conference yesterday.
Ms. Hicks was reported to be threatening others with scissors at the group home where she lived. After she refused to show her han
ds to two officers who attempted to subdue her with a Taser, she lunged at one of them with scissors. Officer Diane Chandler, 33, fired four shots, hitting Ms. Hicks in the head, chest, and abdomen.Officer Chandler voluntarily entered a months-long program that has her shadowing police detectives and is temporarily reassigned from her patrol duties. Toledo Police Chief Mike Navarre considers the case closed.
At a news conference yesterday at the home of an aunt of the slain woman, Mr. Rose announced that he will hold a march next month to protest Ms. Hicks' death. He was accompanied by members of the new Toledo chapter of his group.
Gerald Rose stopped short yesterday of alleging that race may have been a factor in Ms. Hicks' death. "We want to get this officer off the street. We want her to be fired," he said. "All police officers are not bad. We need police officers. But the bad ones, we have to get off the street."
I'm not thrilled that this new group is resorting to a protest march in this situation. I would prefer that 21st century problems create 21st century solutions ... and a protest march seems 50 years out of place.
What are your thoughts on the call for the Toledo Police Department to fire Officer Chandler?
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