North Branch woman fatally shot by police while armed struggled with mental illness, husband says
The woman who was shot to death by police near her home in North Branch, Minn., home had struggles with alcohol and mental illness, her husband said Saturday.
Jamie Ann Crabtree, 36, was killed Thursday night during an encounter with officers in a field near their home in the 38900 block of 3rd Avenue, husband Nicholas Williams told the Star Tribune.
Police said Crabtree was armed with a handgun, intoxicated and suicidal at the time of the confrontation. One officer struck Crabtree with a shot from a nonlethal pepper ball and then a second officer shot her with his firearm, according to police. She died at the scene.
Police have yet to say what prompted the officers to fire at the woman.
Williams said he called 911 when his wife walked out of their home after drinking heavily and had with her a bottle of alcohol and a handgun in a case. He said that among the things she said was "suicide by cop." He said he relayed that utterance to emergency dispatch.
Williams said he followed his wife as she walked south toward Hwy. 95. He said a police vehicle drove up, and Williams said he alerted the officer that she had a gun in the case.
"About three minutes later, there were a dozen shots," he said. Crabtree was shot while in a 1-square-block open field north of the highway.
"I started to walk toward her in the field, but [officers] screamed at me to get back," Williams said. "I said, 'No, I'm the husband. She needs help.' " Even so, Williams said, he was kept away from his wounded wife.
Williams said officers repeatedly commanded Crabtree to " 'roll away from the gun,' " even though "she's laying lifeless on the ground."
A full 17 minutes passed, he said, before any of the officers went to her aid. "I believe the cops did the wrong thing" by waiting so long, said Williams, who video-recorded on his cellphone more than 30 minutes of the aftermath.
Williams said his wife suffers seizures when she drinks and has been in therapy for mental illness.
"They knew she was mentally ill," he said of police. "They've picked her up five times over the past three years or so. ... I was trying to be patient and help her out."
Crabtree worked as a personal care attendant and "was on the phone with her favorite client when she got shot," Williams said. "She was begging for help."
Williams said that "we cycled though so many animals" in the home where they were raising two children, ages 11 and 6. He listed among them ducks, rabbits, cats, chickens, fish, a hamster and rats.
Sister-in-law Sarah Clifford, who started an online fundraising campaign to help the family with expenses related to Crabtree's death, posted that "she loved her family, her friends and had such a big heart for animals."
What's next
Police Chief Dan Meyer said the incident was captured on officers' body-worn cameras. The officers involved have been put on standard administrative leave, the chief said.
As is routine practice, the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is leading the investigation into the shooting and is expected to reveal further details in the coming days.
Since 2000, police in Minnesota have killed at least 240 people, including nine this year and 11 in the 11 months, according to a Star Tribune database.
Star Tribune staff writer Jeff Hargarten contributed to this report.
