We're All Screwed: Cops shoot and kill 17 year old White Girl

Matriarch · January 27, 2015, 9:30am

On Thursday, 17-year-old Kristiana Coignard was shot dead by three police officers in the lobby of the Longview Police Department. Coignard arrived at the station around 6:30 p.m. and asked to talk to an officer. Police say the girl was “brandishing a weapon” before she was shot four times.

The three officers, who have not been identified, have been placed on leave. The investigation of Coignard’s death is now being handled by the Texas Rangers.

The incident, at this point, is shrouded in mystery. Officials could not “confirm the type of weapon Coignard brandished at the officers.” Beyond the alleged, unspecified weapon, virtually no details about the events that immediately preceded Coignard’s death have been released.

Coignard was living in Longview with her Aunt, Heather Robertson. In an interview with ThinkProgress, Robertson raised questions about the circumstances of Coignard’s death. “I think it was a cry for help. I think they could have done something. They are grown men. I think there is something they are not telling us.”

Robertson said that her niece had been struggling with mental illness, including depression and bipolar disorder, since her mother died when she was four. She had been hospitalized twice in recent years after suicide attempts. One time, she tried to hang herself. Another time, she drank toilet bowl cleaner. Since arriving in Longview in December, Coignard had been taking medication and regularly seeing a therapist. She had no criminal record and “was only violent with herself, ” Robertson said.

Robertson and Coignard’s grandmother, Holly McGuire, spoke to a Longview police officer on the night Coignard was killed for about 30 minutes. They were provided with few details of what transpired but were told that a video of the incident, including sound, exists. They have not been contacted by the Texas Rangers.

Kristian Brian, a spokesperson for the Longview Police Department, declined to comment further on the case, citing the ongoing investigation by the Texas Rangers. Brian did confirm that a video of the incident exists.

Police officers frequently encounter the mentally ill, but often do not receive training. As a result “rash stigmatization and misinterpretation of the intentions of the mentally ill can cause vital errors and ultimately make the difference between life and death.”

Coignard’s death also raises questions about use of force protocols in the United States. British citizens, for example, “are about 100 times less likely to be shot by police, according to the Economist.”

Officers in Longview were involved in two fatal shootings in 2014, including one involving a 15-year-old. In both instances, the officers were cleared by a grand jury.

Source: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2015/01/26/3615294/kristiana-coignard-shot-cops-longview/

I know some of you have some very strong opinions about police abuse of power. What’s your take on handling the mentally ill with deadly force?

SoVi3t · January 27, 2015, 9:33am

whew, one less crazy girl to accuse us valuable men of rape, or sexual harrassment, or making boobs too jiggly in Dead or Alive.

Vynce · January 27, 2015, 9:34am

Okay, now the police have gone too far.

(I stopped reading at the title.)

Wasted · January 27, 2015, 9:39am

Nothing to see here, move along.

Gender is irrelevant when deciding to use deadly force. But…this is a Matriarch thread, so whatever.

Negative-Zer0 · January 27, 2015, 9:41am

But if they are killing their deity, white women, this proves that the cops are really fucked up. Honestly, this might be the case that reforms police. I ain’t read the article. Is she pretty?

Wasted · January 27, 2015, 9:43am

She was cute, if the image is accurate.

Shadow_Ace · January 27, 2015, 9:44am

Matriarch thread

http://www.weakstream.us/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/wtf.gif

po_pimpus · January 27, 2015, 9:48am

Oh shit, they killing the holy, protected species of young white women now?!

Everybody is fucked… You’re all niggas now.

Manx · January 27, 2015, 9:50am

Fucking Texas.

FOBio · January 27, 2015, 9:52am

Without more info (especially the video), we really don’t know what happened. Apparently she’s depressed and has history of attempted suicide. There’s such a thing as “suicide by cop” where a person deliberately provoke police officers to shoot him/her. I’m not saying that’s exactly what she did, but it really wouldn’t surprise me.

MotM · January 27, 2015, 10:08am

Why should the cops be expected to not shoot someone because they are mentally ill?

I mean, obviously there can be cases in which the person isn’t dangerous while acting crazy, but walking up to cops and getting a weapon out explicitly because they are cops is probably not one of them. It doesn’t matter if you’re legitimately crazy or not, if you’re trying to kill somebody then the cop should treat you like someone trying to kill somebody. Specifically them, in the immediate future. Training doesn’t mean shit, the article just wants to shame cops for just being then and there when their lives are threatened.

This is, of course, assuming the weapon was lethal. If it was just a pipe I’m not even sure a kid that size could hurt a cop.

Wasted · January 27, 2015, 10:09am

It doesn’t take a lot of effort to hurt someone with a pipe.

jimmy1200 · January 27, 2015, 10:22am

Exactly. With little to nothing to go on, and a pretty extreme history of mental issues that immediately came to surface by her aunt, i dont know what to say.

She walked into a fucking police station looking for a fight. If she didnt have a gun though, she shouldnt have been shot dead. Thats ridiculous. I’ll gladly take on a stupid 17 year old female with a knife, even in my current drunken state, cause i know thats an easy win, even with my hands in my fucking pocket.

But if she came through with a fake gun (bb gun that looks real), or an actually tooly, then oh well.

Also, this threads trash. Is this suppose to be special because she is a white girl? She walked into a fucking police station brandishing a weapon. Even the michael brown case wasnt this cut and dry, and stupid. I’m sure video will surface soon, and what the weapon was will surface. Although if it had been a gun, they would have said something by now, so they must be trying to reup their PR shit to see why she was gunned down at a police station for anything less than a gun. Maybe she was threatening others in her stab distance, if she had a knife, i dont know.

Waiting for the flood of incoming white feminist backing this girl, while conveniently ignoring the issues revolving their brown and black sisters who they constantly ignore.

Also

SNAAAAKE · January 27, 2015, 10:26am

thats what you get for waving a dildo around in the police station :wtf:

FOBio · January 27, 2015, 10:58am

It doesn’t matter about her mental status. In that particular instant, she was (supposedly) a threat enough to warrant lethal force. Whether or not she was delusional, deliberately instigating the cops, etc. isn’t the main point. If any person is threatening enough, cops should have a right to take that person down.

Now if she really was holding a weapon is a different story.

angelpalm · January 27, 2015, 11:04am

Mental illness only becomes a factor when white people are involved. She probably smoked cannibus and listened to hip hop, a sure indication that she was deserving of the death penalty.

ThePurpleBunny · January 27, 2015, 11:37am

Just ask these suspected murderers:

Spoiler

https://img0.etsystatic.com/039/0/6695219/il_340x270.620413908_qthn.jpg

Serpent · January 27, 2015, 11:48am

Whoa, a 17 year old white chick got killed? The thugs in blue must be ready to exterminate the population, and that was some sort of trial run.

Volkan · January 27, 2015, 11:51am

The government is getting ready to kill us all.

crucades · January 27, 2015, 1:28pm

Girl walked into a police station holding a knife and only gets shot 4 times? Your cops are getting better at this. Shit next time they might just take the knife off them.