Court over shooting

A NEW York police sergeant has been charged with murder over the shooting of a 66-yearold mentally ill woman wielding a baseball bat, a death the mayor called unacceptable.

Sgt Hugh Barry pleaded not guilty at an arraignment yesterday to charges that also included manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in Deborah Danner’s October death. A union spokesman called the charges ridiculous.

Police were responding to a 911 call about an emotionally disturbed person when Sgt Barry encountered the schizophrenic in her apartment.