A 23-year-old woman is recovering from a gunshot wound and under a psychiatric hold after a brief standoff with Cincinnati Police Tuesday. The woman called 911 from the 300 block of Crestline in East Price Hill and said she was feeling suicidal.
A few minutes later, the resident of the home called 911 and said the subject was on her porch, armed with a knife, and trying to get inside. The caller said there were five small children and a senior inside.
Police Chief Eliot Isaac says two officers, Joshua Wallet and Andrew Snape, arrived and made contact with the distraught woman. Body camera footage shows Snape next to the front porch, warning her she'll be Tasered if she doesn't drop the knife.
Isaac says the resident looked out the window, saw the officers, and opened the front door. The armed woman tried to get in, and Officer Snape deployed his Taser to no effect. Officer Wallet fired once, hitting the woman in the leg.
Body camera footage shows officers handcuffing her, and then applying a tourniquet to her upper leg, to stop the bleeding.
"The officers did a very fine job. They were really trying to de-escalate the situation up until the point the door came open. At that point they were forced to respond in regard to the safety of the individuals inside." Isaac says Cincinnati Police have had several contacts with the woman on mental health issues.
"We encourage our officers to take their time in these situations and get additional resources if needed," Isaac says. "I think they were definitely headed in that direction. You can hear the officer say 'OK, let's start over.'"
This is the second officer-involved shooting in Cincinnati in July. Isaac says the incident speaks to the number of people in the community who need mental health treatment. "We all need to do more around this, not just law enforcement," he says. "There's much to be done, because this is happening far too often."
Officers Wallet and Snape will not face charges. Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters says the officers acted heroically and probably "saved an innocent woman's life by taking the actions that they took."
The woman is in psychiatric care and faces a charge of felonious assault.
