Mother of man in wheelchair shot by police arrested for threatening woman
By Ciara McCarthy and agencies From Guardian UK
Phyllis McDole released on $10,000 bail after allegedly confronting the woman she believed called 911 about her son before his death in Wilmington, Delaware
Police arrested the mother of Jeremy McDole, a paralyzed Delaware man who was killed by police last week, after she allegedly assaulted a woman she believed called 911 about her son before his death.
Phyllis McDole, 48, turned herself in to Wilmington police on Monday and was released on $10,000 bail. She was charged with second-degree burglary, terroristic threatening, third-degree assault and third-degree conspiracy, according to the News Journal.
McDole’s son was shot by Wilmington officers last week after police responded when a 911 caller reported that a man with a gun had shot himself. The woman McDole allegedly assaulted was not the one who called 911, authorities told the Associated Press.
McDole and five other people reportedly approached the woman at her home on Friday evening and punched and threatened her. McDole told the woman: “Bitch, you got my son killed. You are the one that called the cops. You got my son shot and you gonna die like my son died,” according to court documents quoted by the News Journal.
Police released the 911 call on Friday. The woman who called police, who has not been identified, told police that Jeremy McDole shot himself and was still armed.
“Please get the police here, he shot himself, he’s still got a gun in his hand,” she said on the tape.
Graphic video footage recorded by a bystander shows McDole, 28, struggling in his wheelchair while police shout at him to put his hands up and drop his gun. Officers shot McDole when he reached toward his waist. No weapon is visible in the video, but police said they found a handgun at his side.
Officials from the Delaware department of justice’s office of civil rights and public trust are investigating his death.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
IMAGE: Wilmington police shoot Jeremy McDole last week. Photograph: Mike Wilson for the Guardian
For more on this story go to: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/29/mother-wheelchair-man-shot-by-police-arrested-threatening-woman-mcdole