Clothing thwarted stun gun in police shooting of woman
Before a Chicago Police officer fatally shot Michele Robey near Irving Park and Western on Feb. 10, a stun gun was used in an effort to subdue the woman, who authorities said was threatening officers and employees of a CVS.
After the stun gun proved ineffective, Robey was shot in the abdomen in the middle of Western Avenue.
Records show that the amount of clothing worn by the 55- year- old Robey prevented the stun gun’s probes from reaching her flesh.
In her autopsy report, the Cook County medical examiner’s office concluded: “A Taser was deployed, however due to the amount of clothing worn by the subject, the Taser was ineffective.”
Robey was wearing seven sweaters, a jacket, five shirts, four pairs of black leggings and a pair of jeans, among other articles of clothing, when she was shot, according to the medical examiner’s office.
Police said at the time that the stun gun was used twice to no effect, and Robey, who lived on the Northwest Side, was shot after lunging at officers.
Darryl Dixon, a witness to the shooting, told the SunTimes then that he saw “Taser wires hanging off the back of her jacket.”
The medical examiner’s office noted that “Two gray probes were recovered on the black hooded zip- up jacket and the black sweater.”
In accordance with its selfimposed policy, the Independent Police Review Authority released records from Robey’s shooting on Tuesday, 60 days after the shooting. The records released included surveillance video and recordings of 911 calls.
“I have a customer that’s in the back screaming and causing a scene, swearing at customers,” a CVS pharmacy employee says in a 911 recording. “She just threw a can of nuts at me.
“She has a knife. She’s knocking stuff off shelves,” the employee says over yells in the background. A customer called 911 as well.
Store surveillance video shows that an employee set up two carts in front of the entrance to the store, apparently in an attempt to keep the person inside until police arrive. A person in a black jacket walks up holding an object, and tussled with the employee before getting out the door. Police arrived after Robey had exited the CVS.
After her death, members of Robey’s family said she battled bipolar schizoaffective disorder.
Last month, Robey’s family filed a lawsuit against the of- ficers at the scene.
Michael Oppenheimer, one of the attorneys representing Robey’s family, said officers lack proper training in dealing with mentally ill people.
Oppenheimer also disputed the claim that Robey lunged at police.
Chicago Police spokesman Frank Giancamilli said in an email Thursday that, because the initial call to police did not mention someone with mental health problems, the officers dispatched to the scene did not have Crisis Intervention Training.
The type of knife Robey was wielding the night she was shot has not been disclosed. Surveillance video does not clearly show it and one of the 911 callers speculated it was a butter knife.
Video from the scene by ABC7 appears to show a steak knife in the street. Citing the ongoing IPRA investigation, Giancamilli declined to offer specifics on the knife. Oppenheimer said he wasn’t aware of what type of knife it was other than it being “something you find in the kitchen.”