Hamburg Police: Officers thought woman they shot had a knife, not a flashlight

Hamburg police say they thought woman had a knife

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HAMBURG, N.Y. — We’re learning more about an officer-involved shooting in Hamburg that resulted in the death of a Jamestown woman last week.

Hamburg Police say it all started early Friday morning, Feb. 1, when Lisa Haight, 36, stabbed and seriously injured another passenger in a van on the Thruway. That van was on the way to a methadone clinic in Buffalo. Officers say they responded to a nearby home where a caller said a woman had entered his home and was “acting crazy.”

They day they followed footprints to another house nearby and found Haight naked in the bathroom cutting herself with a knife. According to police, Haight obeyed commands to drop the knife. When they tried to arrest her, they say she resisted before running back to the bathroom, picking up an object and making slashing motions.

That’s when Chief Peter Dienes says one of the officers shot Haight in the chest and began rendering aid. Police say Haight was holding a small flashlight.

“Given the totality of the circumstances, and how quickly the situation escalated, all three officers believed that Ms. Haight was attempting to cut them with what they believed to be a knife,” Dienes said.

He added: “It appears the responding officers followed the procedures and use-of-force policy of the Town of Hamburg Police Department as this incident unfolded.”

The victim of the stabbing is in the hospital with extensive injuries to the face, shoulder and head.

The New York State Attorney General’s Office and Hamburg Police Department are investigating the shooting.