A grand jury Friday reviewed the fatal police shooting of a mentally ill woman brandishing a pair of scissors and declined to indict the officer involved on a charge of murder.

Linda Hicks, 62, was shot and killed Dec. 15 by a police officer responding to a call of a mentally ill person who had become violent. After a confrontation, Officer Diane Chandler, 33, who has been a member of the department since 2006, fired at least three shots, killing Ms. Hicks.

Friday, the officer was cleared of criminal charges when the grand jury declined to indict her on a charge of murder with a gun specification.

"My client is gratified by that," said attorney Jay Feldstein, who is representing Officer Chandler. "We feel that it was the appropriate result."

In the days following the shooting, more information became available about what happened in the small room at the state-licensed Marria's Adult Family Home, 1321 Fernwood Ave., where Ms. Hicks lived.

Police Chief Mike Navarre said Officer Chandler and her partner arrived at the scene quickly and were told that Ms. Hicks had not been taking her medication and was threatening people with a pair of scissors.

Police said Ms. Hicks was laying on the bed and was concealing her hands. She refused to comply when the two female officers ordered her to show her hands and attempts to subdue her with a Taser failed.

Authorities said that Ms. Hicks then got up from the bed with the scissors in her hand and advanced toward Officer Chandler.

John Weglian, chief of the special units division for the prosecutor's office, said all cases that involve police shootings are reviewed by the prosecutor's office. He said that while most are not presented to the grand jury, "the facts and circumstances relating to this case were different" in that the suspect involved was not armed with a gun.

He added that Prosecutor Julia Bates decided that the case should be reviewed by the grand jury because it was unusual in that a firearm or "the reasonable belief there is a firearm" was not a factor in the case.

"Mrs. Bates felt that the grand jury should review the incident and tell us whether or not the conduct of the officers was appropriate under the circumstances," he said.

Mr. Weglian noted that based on his review of the facts of the shooting, the decision not to indict was appropriate.

"On the basis of the information that was available to me, the officers did attempt everything to prevent this situation from escalating and all their efforts to prevent that from happening were in vain," he said.

The Rev. Cedric Brock, pastor of Mount Nebo Church on North Detroit Avenue and president of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, disagreed. Saying that the community was "outraged" by the decision, he said members of the religious community intend to keep the discussion alive about the interaction of police officers and the mentally ill.

"The officer is back on the street working. We feel that that is not justice. The woman is in the grave, and the officer is back at work," he said. "Someone is dead who [was] mentally challenged. It's just sad that this officer will not have to go to trial for criminal charges when she had a gun and this lady had scissors."

The Rev. Brock said yesterday that he had spoken to Chief Navarre earlier that day about what could be done to garner more specialized training for officers. He said he believes that the recent incidents of police shootings prove that some officers are not qualified to deal with mental illness.

"They need better training, they need more training, and they need mandatory training, not volunteer," he said.

Chief Navarre said he was not surprised by the grand jury's decision, saying that he believed from the onset that the situation was one in which the officer acted in self-defense. He added that he believes all police shootings should be reviewed by a grand jury and that when only certain ones are chosen, it sends out a message that maybe there is "a problem with this one."

"I think it's a good thing for the community to have an independent body take a look at these types of incidents because they do generate a lot of discussion and they - not all but a fair amount of them - produce conflicting opinions," Chief Navarre said.

The chief said that the case has yet to be reviewed by the police firearms review board, which includes a complete forensics analysis. The five-person review board will review the shooting within two weeks, the chief said.

Dan Wagner, president of the Toledo Police Patrolman's Association, said that the grand jury's decision simply reflected the facts of the case, that there was no violation of the law. He said that Officer Chandler was threatened and acted appropriately.

The incident prompted the city under the old administration to form a six-person committee to study how the police department deals with people with mental illness and to find ways to improve communications between police officers and the mental health community. Chief Navarre said he intends to keep working with the stakeholders in the mental health field to keep communication ongoing.

Safety Director Shirley Green said that Mayor Mike Bell supports the department's efforts, particularly to update the curriculum and the organizing of a new class of officers.

Yesterday's decision is not the first time a grand jury reviewed a police shooting.

Last year, an Ottawa Hills police officer was indicted by a Lucas County grand jury for the shooting of a motorcyclist during a May 23 traffic stop.

Contact Erica Blake at:

eblake@theblade.com

or 419-213-2134.

First Published January 9, 2010, 2:47 p.m.