By Police1 Staff
ELGIN, Ill. — An Illinois police department recently released video of an officer fatally shooting a knife-wielding woman who appeared to lunge at police.
On March 12, 34-year-old Decynthia Clements was parked on a gravel dead-end road before driving off when an officer approached her, The Chicago Tribune reports. After leading police on a pursuit, officers ordered her to exit her vehicle, which she said she would do after finishing her cigarette.
Elgin police spent an hour attempting to get Clements to exit her car. Officers discussed how to safely end the standoff with Clements, who they believed was suicidal, after realizing she had a knife and possibly crack cocaine.
Officers can be heard saying “we’ll just try to get her down” and “we’re not going to end it for her” if she came at them with the knife. Police then saw that Clements apparently set her car on fire, and at one point, an officer said she was holding a knife to her neck.
Clements eventually emerged from her vehicle and appeared to lunge at the officers before she was fatally shot. The Elgin PD released more than 30 hours of body and squad car video of the shooting, including a 20-minute long summary of the incident.
Elgin police Chief Jeff Swoboda said the department released the video of the shooting as “one step toward transparency and accountability,” even if it’s “troubling to view.”
“It is our goal to provide Ms. Clements’ family and the community with a factual narrative so we may all work towards healing. We are striving to strike a balance between the public’s right to know, the ongoing investigation into the incident and, of course, the needs of Ms. Clements’ family and loved ones,” Swoboda said in a statement.
Lawyers for Clements’ family said the video reinforces that police didn’t have to use lethal force.
“This tragedy presents a prime case to push for more intensive training for officers to recognize situations that call for appropriate de-escalation techniques when the use of deadly force is not necessary,” Attorney Andrew Stroth said in a statement.
The officer who fired the shots, Lt. Christian Jensen, has been placed on leave as state police investigate the incident.