Editorial: Even a disciplined police effort can have an imperfect end

It is an inescapable fact that the Tamekka Broyles standoff in Schaumburg Aug. 1 ended with Broyles being shot, and but for a few inches of bullet trajectory, she would be dead. Her confrontation with police did not end well. Even so, it could have ended much worse, for Broyles, certainly, but also for the police involved and for neighbors and bystanders.

And in the context of our times - with this week's renewed flare-ups in Ferguson, Missouri, punctuating the one-year anniversary of an event that aroused a national dialogue about police brutality - initial court filings on the Broyles case suggest, if nothing else, that in an atmosphere of unpredictable tension, imperfect endings can occur even when police engage in patient negotiation and act with disciplined restraint.

In documents and testimony presented in Cook County court Friday, authorities described Broyles as distraught over the breakup of her marriage, armed, drinking whiskey and indicating that she wanted police to shoot her. They said she pointed a handgun at police at various times during negotiations that lasted several hours.

At one point, according to prosecutors, two Schaumburg officers advanced to within a few feet of where she sat in her apartment but, when she pointed her gun directly at one of them, retreated without using their own weapons to defend themselves. At another time, after officers from the Northern Illinois Police Alarm System arrived to help, she fired several shots from inside her apartment. Police did not return fire. Later, when she opened her apartment door and fired at two NIPAS officers, they did respond, one of them shooting her with a bean bag, the other shooting his firearm and striking her twice. She was apprehended, taken to the hospital and, when she had recovered from her injuries enough to appear in court, charged.

From a distance, it is presumptuous and premature to cast broad judgments, either in criticism or praise, on police behavior in this situation. Did they follow every procedure? Did they make all the correct snap judgments? Did they exhibit unusual courage? These and more are surely questions being examined both in the Schaumburg department and at NIPAS. But at least one critical point is clear. No one else was injured, neither police nor anyone else in the neighborhood.

As with the many instances, some deeply disturbing, of tragic police interactions with suspects chronicled and debated in the news and social media these days, it is impossible to declare that the Broyles case is representative of all police interactions in times of crisis. But it does emphasize the unique and unpredictable nature of each such interaction, and it does show that even when one does not end as well as everyone would prefer, that may not be for a lack of sincere, professional and disciplined effort.