Police Fire Bean-Bags To Subdue 85 Year Old Delusional Woman

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Police used beanbag rounds to subdue an apparently delusional 85-year-old woman who had slashed a man with a large knife Wednesday evening in a southwest Medford neighborhood.

Signe Gorman was armed with a 22-inch long carving knife when she approached a 52-year-old man who was working next door to her home in the 900 block of South Peach Street, and "asked him to help get a man out of her television," Medford police Lt. Mike Moran said.

The man asked Gorman to return to her home. She instead slashed him with the knife, causing a deep cut to one of his hands, Moran said.

"It was a completely unprovoked attack," he said.

Police were called to the scene at 6:22 p.m. after receiving a report of a stabbing there. When officers arrived, they found Gorman standing in her front yard, still holding the large knife, Moran said.

Gorman acted hostile toward officers and refused orders to put down the knife, Moran said.

An officer fired a single beanbag round that struck Gorman’s hand but did not cause her to drop the knife, police said.

"She just stood there," said witness Don McCarty, who went outside after hearing sirens from patrol cars headed down South Peach Street.

Gorman finally dropped the knife after an officer fired two more beanbag rounds at her legs. Moran said he did not know if Gorman fell to the ground when struck by the rounds.

McCarty said when the officer fired the less-than-lethal beanbag round from a shotgun, "it sounded like a pellet gun."

Gorman was taken by police to a mental-health facility at Rogue Valley Medical Center for evaluation, but not arrested. Moran said police will conduct a full investigation into the incident before forwarding it to the Jackson County District Attorney’s Office.

"Even though she has mental-health issues, we still believe in putting together a criminal case," Moran said.

The stabbing victim’s wife drove him to Rogue Valley Medical Center, where he was expected to receive stitches for his wound, police said. The victim lives in the 600 block of South Oakdale Avenue, but owns the home next door to Gorman’s residence, police said.

Moran said neighbors told police of previous instances involving Gorman in which she did not know where she was, or became agitated with them for no apparent reason.

http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2005/0512/local/stories/05local.htm

Lt. Moran is well-named.


Edit: Come to think of it, so is Ms. Gorman.

2nd Edit: ROGUE Valley Medical Center? MatCom, are you making this up???

I really do, but that sounded pretty reasonable response to the situation. Shoot in the hand and then in the legs is about the safest place to shot someone.
At least they took her to a mental health facility.

Yes, this woman was apparently delusional, and was 85. But, she had already sliced somebody else, and the cops didn't fire at any lethal areas. Plus, a hand on hand tussle could have easily resulted in something vital broken, like a hip.

I think that the cops did alright on this one.

Poor nutty woman.

That's a fuggin' machete! Where do you even get a 22" carving knife? Mine's only 12". Now I have carving knife envy...

(compared to the recent 100+ round shoot-em-ups in some places). The "85 years old" part is irrelevant next to the "22 inch long part"...

An crazy old lady armed with a 22 inch long (almost 2 foot long!!!) knife could easily kill you. Getting close would have been dangerous, and she had already attacked one person.

The cops were entirely correct to use non-lethal force to subdue her.

I've been trying to get Sean Hannity out of my TV for a couple years!