In yet another reminder of why we should only call police as a last resort, police in Kansas shot a woman dead after rousing her from her sleep and demanding her gun, killing her when she complied with their orders.
The woman’s boyfriend had called Gardner police to report that she was suicidal.
Now the woman’s daughter is suing.
According to [__Courthouse News:__](http://www.courthousenews.com/2016/02/29/police-shoot-mother-to-death-in-her-bed.htm)
> Gardner police got a 911 call on March 26, 2015 that Deanne Choate, 54, had been drinking alcohol, was suicidal and had a gun. When police arrived they immediately handcuffed and arrested Choate’s boyfriend and removed him from the home, then found Deanne Choate sleeping naked in her bed, her daughter says in the Feb. 25 complaint.
> After waking her up, officers questioned her for eight minutes, repeatedly asking, “Where is the gun?”
> “Deanne was obviously not carrying or concealing on her person any type of weapon,” her daughter says.
> “During this time, officers came and went from the room. They looked under the sheets of the bed.” They stayed in the room “with the naked, 115-pound woman” and finally gave her a sweatshirt to wear, according to the complaint.
> After repeatedly demanding, “Where is the gun?” and “We know you have a gun,” Deanne finally “complied with officers’ request and produced a handgun, stating, ‘Oh, here it is.’”
> Then they shot her to death.
The incident was apparently captured on officers’ body cams, but as soon as they killed her, they were ordered to turn the cameras off.
They then grabbed a hold of her arms and legs and carried her dying body from the bedroom to the front door.
The complaint, filed February 25 by Michele Choate, states that Gardner police has a “shoot-first-ask-questions-later” policy.
Named in the lawsuit are Gardner police officers Robert Huff, Justin Mohney and Jeff Breneman.
