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Nearly a month after a Fairfax County officer shot and killed a Reston woman, police have released body camera footage capturing the intense moment.
The incident occurred on the morning of September 16th at an apartment complex on Sunrise Valley Drive near Reston Parkway.
Fairfax, VA police release body cam footage of Sydney Wilson slashing officer Peter Liu who was there on a welfare check. https://t.co/wxkbtOdxQx
— Jonathan Choe (@choeshow) October 15, 2024
Fairfax County officers responded to a mental health call for 33-year-old Sydney Wilson, a woman they had encountered multiple times this year, including the day before the fatal encounter.
Officer Peter Liu, trained in crisis intervention, was dispatched to check on her. However, things quickly took a violent turn, as WUSA9 reported.
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According to the footage, Officer Liu knocked on Wilson’s door, but she slammed it shut in his face. After knocking for another three minutes, she opened the door again—this time with a knife.
Without warning, she slashed the officer’s face, leading him to retreat down a hallway while repeatedly telling her to back up.
Despite his efforts to de-escalate the situation, Officer Liu was trapped in a dead-end hallway. After being attacked a second time, he fired multiple shots, hitting Wilson three times.
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis described the officer’s actions as being in line with their training, emphasizing that Liu had no other options available.
“So he did the things that we train him and expect him to do,” explained Davis. “If you’re threatened like that, if you can tactically reposition yourself, do it. If you can use distance, use it. If you can seek cover and concealment, seek it. All those options just weren’t available to him.”
This incident has drawn attention to Fairfax County’s co-responder program, which pairs officers with mental health experts to assist in calls involving mental health crises.
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However, the co-responder unit was unavailable at the time, responding to another call. Chief Davis suggested that even with the co-responder team present, the situation might have still turned violent and placed the mental health expert in danger.
The officer is now recovering and has been reassigned to another department as the investigation continues. Fairfax County police are reviewing the incident to determine if anything could have been done differently.
Some believe that the officer should have taken a different approach. Check out this tweet:
How many innocent, Black women need to die before we #AbolishThePolice?
— James Rice (@soccerdad79) October 15, 2024
Sydney Wilson was wearing a bathrobe when officer Peter Liu pounded on her apartment door and then shot her dead just outside her apartment. She was just 33 years young.#BLM #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd pic.twitter.com/1p5qfvvRbM
What are your thoughts? Do you think the officer could have or should have responded differently?
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Is this James Rice guys F_____ idiot? What would he have done if she was coming at him with the knife and he had NO escape? Would he just let her cut him up with her knife? BTW, he was responding to a call to the scene.
Kudos to the officer for performing his duties, and surviving. Kudos also to “Bobsyouruncle” for mentioning the “21 foot rule”. In extreme CQB, the knife has many advantages over a firearm… exponentially more so when the firearm is holstered.
He should have aim at her head, that would have stopped her more quickly, specially at that distance. Glad the officer is alive.
She cut him bad – note the BLOOD running off his hand as he is reporting in. She cut him on hand or arm !
He’s LUCKY He was able to stop her!
I hope the officer makes a 100% recovery. The flow of blood dripping in front of the body cam is pretty heavy.
The takeaway? Carry nothing less than a .45!!!
One less scholar in the world…
First Rule of Law Enforcement
Make sure when your shift is over you go home alive.
I don’t care if she was naked or in body armor. The b*tch comes at me with a knife, she’s getting put down.
Here we go again with the left playing the race card. It didn’t matter if the attacker were white or black, man or woman–if someone is trying to harm or kill you, you do whatever it takes to defend yourself because self-preservation is the first law of nature. If there was any racism involved in this case, it could be said that the woman thought she could mess around with an Asian police officer, and that is tantamount to an Asian Hate Crime. Would she have done the same to a non-Asian officer? Probably not.
Well she will never attack anyone else!!!! Clean shoot officer!!! Good job!!!!
James Rice, based on his feed, appears to be a Nazi or at least a sympathizer. Judging from his other posts, this tweet was made to tongue-in-cheek, since a woman with a knife charging an officer is a clear threat.
Clean shoot,,she attacked him and she got what was coming to her.
Innocent black woman? She was trying to kill the officer! He tried to retreat and deescalate the situation however he was attacked a second time. He had no choice but to use deadly force. The fact she was in her bathrobe was inconsequential. Did these people not view the video?
Yes, James Rice, wearing a bath robe and swinging a butcher knife. What do YOU think should have happened? Should the cop have let her slice him up like a carving a turkey? You dumpass bleeding heart libatards have lost touch with reality. I’m so sick and tired of idiots like you playing the race-card.
That officer will be scarred for life, physically and emotionally. The only problem I see is he waited too long to defend himself.And why was he alone? They knew she was a nut case. Where was his back-up? You can’t reason with someone who is irrational and obviously hyped up on drugs with ill intent on their mind. Thank God she didn’t have a gun, otherwise the officer would probably be dead.
Ronald Reagan once said; “liberalism is a form of mental illness”. You sir, Mr. Rice, proves that statement to be correct.
I guess James did not have the full story when he made his post.
NOT so innocent after all. And video proof.
Send the mental health person and let them get slashed…see how people feel about it then.
Knives are DEADLY weapons.
He should have fired more shots!!! Attack me with a knife and I won’t back up first but immediately fire.
James Polk is an idiot – “innocent black woman” WITH A KNIFE! yeah right
One must protect against aggression with any means possible to stop it. If he hadn’t stopped her someone would have to sooner or later. Fortunately it was an armed person. Someone that dangerous could take out Rice with ease.
Some people with a false agenda are so stupid. Next time maybe James Rice should use his body to protect the police officer from getting knifed. Yes, that’s unreasonable but so is his statement.
I would have have had the taser in my hand but who knows what convoluted orders the cops were under. No matter what he would have been in the wrong in the eyes of the nut jobs living out there.
You’d be in a world of hurt had she opened the door and started shooting while you were holding that taser. In the time it takes to transition from taser to pistol you would very likely be on your way to room temperature. When the deadly weapons come out the taser stays in it’s holster. Taser’s have their use but not in this situation.
Odds are the taser would have failed costing precious time that would have gotten the officer killed. First, she had on a thick terry cloth robe and the barbs probably won’t have penetrated. Second – she obviously was hyped up on something and may not have reacted to the shock.
Seriously? Did any of the “Abolish the Police” morons watch the video?
You don’t come at a cop or anyone for that matter with a knife! She slashed at the officer so she got shot! Good job by the officer!
news flash…….police don’t get paid to die!
James Rice, the soccerdad79, thinks that his well order world would continue on if the Police were abolished?
His wife and kids would be stalked by perverts from the DNC, his Lexus LS 500 would confiscated by the Vice Lords, his mother would be waylaid at the grocery store by an illegal immigrant, his home would be taken over by a second rate meth cooker, he would get shanked under a bridge by an unstable lady who wanted his shopping cart and he would bleed to death by a trash dispencer because EMT did NOT want to leave the safety of the firehouse.
This is why Demshevik morons like James Rice should NOT ever be trusted with any policy decisions.
They always say why? couldn’t he have used non lethal means? I feel sorry for the lady, but it sounds like they knew there was a serious problem. Speedy recovery to the Officer, sorry you had to experience that. Remember the 21 foot rule. Or if someone opens a door and slashes your face with a butcher knife.