17-Year Old Girl Killed In Police Station
On January 22, 2015 around 6:28 p.m., 17-year old Kristiana Coignard of Longview, Texas walked into the police station, picked up the phone, and told dispatch that she needed to talk to police.
Kristiana was living with her aunt, Heather Robertson. Kristiana’s mom died when she was 4-years old, and Kristiana suffered with depression and bipolar disorder. She attempted suicide several times, and had been hospitalized.
On January 22, 2015, three officers went to the lobby of the police station and shot Kristiana, killing her. Details are currently under investigation. They allege that she threatened them with a knife.
Kristiana’s aunt and grandmother spoke with a Longview police officer on the night that Kristiana was killed. They were told that there is a video with sound. The Texas Rangers are investigating but have not yet contacted Kristiana’s relatives. The three officers involved have been place on paid leave.
Justice for Kristiana. R.I.P.
Posted on 01/27/2015, in Cops Gone Wild and tagged 17 years old, Heather Robertson, killed, Kristiana Coignard, Longview, Texas. Bookmark the permalink. 54 Comments.
This is such a sad story…..the officers that night had no way of knowing her mental problems. But it sounds like this was suicide by cop.
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Do you know they didn’t know about her? and even if they didn’t know her exact issue, at least one out of 3 cops should’ve thought it a possibility when a young girl brings her own self to the police station!
wouldn’t ANY prudent person who sees a girl under apparent distress suspect something emotional & not necessarily criminal could be going on?
don’t we expect more cautious thoughtful discretion from those entrusted with the awesome authority to take a human life and liberty? it’s unreal three grown men literally shot this kid! I’ll need to see some major video of a 17yr girl turning into the incredible hulk before i’ll EVER believe they were in fear for their safety. they’re the ones with the guns after all.
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Thank you.
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Shannon….so far the reports that I have read do not suggest they knew of her mental history. Also there was nothing reported to say that the girl was “under apparent distress” emotionally. There is video and audio and time will tell if they release it but she was armed with a knife. A knife can be just a deadly.
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yeah, I know you try to give cops much more consideration than I do. and I prolly wld too if I had friends/family in LE that were decent normal ppl. most ppl are decent I think anyway. but I dont know any cops that are decent.
I dated a ft lauderdale cop whn I was too young to be dating but he had this amazing all white hybrid wolf-german shepherd sooo….(i’ll always love her)
but i was naïve and thought he was cool until I begged him to show me the trick when he can knock someone out for a second with a i guess a choke hold, w/your arm around their neck & it stops the blood to the brain and they pass out. but when he finally relented & did it to me it scared me, I kinda got mad & i felt weird about him afterwards. I look back now & even tho he was young too about 26, he thought I was 18 but I was barely 17 & I think he was irresponsible to do it even tho at the time I didn’t think it was a big deal and pestered him to do it. he should’ve known better.
but his roommate was also a cop & wasn’t cool at all. one day my boyfriend had gone to work & his roommate came home from his shift &got mad & woke me up bitching for smoking in the house the night before ( he was renting a room in my boyfriends home) we got into an argument & I cussed at him & he punched me in my face knocking me across the room into the wall! I ran to neighbors to call the police on the police!! and of course the police talked me into just leaving it alone.
but since then the 2 other cops I know well because they dated my friends, they were serious ego trippin scumbags. one, and this was 10yrs ago, actually shot a young black man while he was off duty going into a convenience store because he thought he stole cigarettes & he had my friend lie for him to the other cops. she had to say she saw something she didn’t. she was dealing w.this for like 2yrs.
I didn’t realize police misconduct was “a thing” back then, I just knew he was drugged up (steroids) controlling, woman beating scumbag who shot someone out of anger & had the nerve to get my close friend to lie for him, risking all kinds of trouble legal & otherwise.
even after those incidences I still didn’t realize the problem was systemic or racial. I thought it was just the few ppl I knew & the couple you’d hear about on the news occasionally- until now!
I mean you can’t deny the shit up in Ferguson &Staten Island? if you doubted Mike Brown was surrendering &Wilson shot him in the head as he hit the ground anyway, you have to see how the police acted right afterwards, with the riot cops & dogs & then the way they attacked protesters!?
And you see Roorda being head of the union flat out defending the rouge cops who slammed that one teenager’s head in ON VIDEO!
If the Ferguson Chief is cool w lying straight to our faces about what Wilson knew & Wilson’s lies to GJ- about an especially horrific killing of a kid who didn’t deserve to be killed, if they aren’t rouge cops what are?!
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Shannon,
That’s the thing. When the playing field is level with truth, citizens don’t distrust the system as much. When the playing field is littered with obstacles such as lies, it’s unfair and unjust.
Law enforcement is the only body of personnel who can defend themselves with “I thought.” Justice is then transformed from finding and applying facts to law, to giving approval to thoughts. When thoughts of those who take life are held to a standard where there are no legal consequences, then all citizens are deprived of justice.
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So you think it is justified for three grown men in uniform to kill a young girl?
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Reblogged this on The Zephyr Lounge and commented:
Reigniting the conversation about law enforcement training in how to handle situations involving the mentally ill.
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Thanks for the reblog. I don’t know if law enforcement manuals teach them any category other than “suspect.”
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I don’t know, but the mentally ill are treated very poorly. A few of the entries I made last year during a series of posts profiling police misconduct dealt with the mentally ill.
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Zephyr,
I look forward to visiting your blog.
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I commented but don’t see it here now. I don’t understand why 3 grown ass men couldn’t find a way to subdue this girl without having to kill her. My soul screams when I read these stories, day after day.
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It appears that no one else was in the lobby at the time. The cops could have talked to her from behind the glass window.
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I wonder if officers who do this, shoot first, evaluate later if it was necessary, ever regret what they have done.
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Mindyme,
Stan North did. He was so distraught that he applied for disability and left the force.
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Reblogged this on The Militant Negro™.
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Good afternoon Jueseppi! Thanks for the reblog.
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Rest in peace, Kristiana.
I wish you had been able to pass through and beyond the darkness and depression you experiencing and lived on to enjoy a pleasant life.
I wish the officers could have just used a chair, stool, or broom to keep you back and eventually disarm you.
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Some of them are SO Trigger happy anymore. Why use their brains when they have a gun..
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There is a rule….it’s called the 21 foot rule. It states that in the time it takes the average officer to recognize a threat, draw his sidearm and fire 2 rounds at center mass, an average subject charging at the officer with a knife or other cutting or stabbing weapon can cover a distance of 21 feet. What it means that if a person intent of harming another is within 21 feet of their target they can reach them and kill them before the other person can draw a firearm and fire.
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I can’t comment right now
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It’s overwhelming.
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It’s Texas..Need we say more though it still doesn’t excuse them..
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Hey Juan! I started a list of states that I will not visit, much less live in. Texas is right there along with Florida, Arizona, and Alaska. I think the only state I will consider is Hawaii. 🙂
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Me too.. I swear the list grows….
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Missouri, don’t forget Missouri
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Oh right — Missouri and Utah.
Hawaii seems to be the BEST. Give me a drink with a little umbrella served by hunks and I’ll be in heaven. 🙂
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well that sounds really good!!
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Aloha! 🙂
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Nothing better or more relaxing than hearing the surf crash on the shore. Let me know when you move there….I just may have to visit!
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Towerflower,
Give me the drink with the little umbrella served by hunks, and I won’t notice the surf. LOL!
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I’m feeling so sad for Kristiana.
What can I or anyone do now except to mourn, light a candle, or wish for the ability to write a poem in her name??
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They lie too often and get away with murder.
Because they know they can.
SICK!!!!~
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Loly,
I truly hope that the video is released and released before the 22nd century enters.
I pray that her family finds some comfort and keep their chins up.
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I light this candle for you Kristiana, in the hopes that you will live on in memory and that your legacy will be to inspire the creation of more programs where police will be given adequate training in dealing with individuals with mental challenges/illnesses.
I hope that your legacy will also be to inspire the refunding of mental health facilities and providers. Too much funding has been taken away from these programs.
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Thanks for this
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Thank you
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Off topic but good news! Marisa Alexander is released from jail….
http://news.yahoo.com/florida-woman-warning-shot-case-may-released-jail-205316623.html
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She’s served more than enough time for what she’s accused of having done
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😔
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I have a relative who is a cop and I do approach them with questions….one of them was training. I was told that in their state they do receive training on mental issues and Alzheimer’s. But I was also told, they don’t always know that a person has a mental issue and even then it can take more than one officer to handle it. They told me about an arrest of a young woman who was all of 5 ft nothing and it took 5 officers to put the woman into handcuffs, 4 men and 1 woman. They said that sometimes the mentally ill are hyped up on adrenaline and not all respond to law enforcement.
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Too many other countries manage to do this, deescalate situations, for me to believe that we can’t do it too.
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Hang on a minute. She walks into a police station and they kill her by shooting her because she threatened them with a knife?… (three of them!) GUN vs knife…. Er, GUN vs knife. Gun… vs… knife? What?!
I was threatened by a knife once… I de-escalated the situation and then took the knife off the girl… I didn’t have to fucking shoot her… 3 fully-trained cops, can’t take a knife off a girl! Sorry, I’m just boggled by this. I don’t buy it.
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Kev….this was a girl who had attempted suicide several times before according to her aunt. It could be that she didn’t want to de-escalate the situation and wanted a suicide by cop. It will take viewing the video to be sure.
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I thought assisted suicide is illegal?
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very good point
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Still, surely three cops could disarm and detain her. However, if she was determined to get killed… well, who knows? Like you said, we’d have to see the footage.
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Kev,
As I understand it, she was the only person in the lobby. The cops didn’t even have to go through the door. They could have spoken with her from behind the window in the lobby.
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Now that puts an even worse perspective on it.
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Thank you
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Do police departments require that their officers have karate or martial arts training?
Here are two videos with defense techniques against knife attacks:
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This is just another example, one of far to many, of police ignorance and violence.
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Valentine, the cop that she was running towards was actually backing up. It was the cop who had only been there a matter of seconds who fired the first two shots.
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I believe that police training should emphasize thinking of options to restrain someone before resorting to the gun which should be the last option. A Taser gun can render someone harmless if an officer is within 15 feet of someone with a knife. Why aren’t alternate options when feasible not automatically the first weapon of choice.
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