Sandy MaloneAlta Sierra, CA – The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office released dashcam video on Wednesday of a woman chasing a deputy with a knife before she was fatally shot (video below).
The incident occurred on Feb. 4 after multiple people called 911 to report that a woman was walking down the middle of a windy, busy road with two small children, KCRA reported.
“It’s just, she’s not well,” one of the callers told the dispatcher.
Another 911 caller said the woman had come to her door with her children and said someone was after her and she needed a ride to Nevada, according to the audio recording of the call that was released by the sheriff’s department on Feb. 17.
Dashcam video showed that when the first Nevada County sheriff’s deputy arrived on the scene, the woman panicked and pulled out a long-bladed knife.
“You’re not in trouble or anything like that,” the deputy told her in the video.
“I know what you did to my babies,” the woman replied.
The woman – later identified as 33-year-old Ariella “Sage” Crawford – tried to push her children off to the side of the road as she shrieked at the deputy, repeatedly yelling “I know who you are” as her children cried behind her.
Dashcam video showed she repeatedly advanced on the deputy with her knife.
A second deputy arrived on the scene and his dashcam video showed Crawford advancing on the first deputy, who had his weapon drawn and pointed at her.
Video showed the arriving deputy drew his Taser and approached from the far side of the first deputy’s vehicle, effectively coming up behind the hysterical woman.
One of Crawford’s children kept trying to get between his mom and the deputy while the other child sat on the side of the road sobbing, the video showed.
The mother kept pushing her child off to the side of the road as deputies pleaded with her to drop the knife.
Dashcam showed that when she turned and charged at the second deputy, he deployed his Taser but it did nothing to stop the enraged woman.
She chased the deputy with her knife held in the air as they deputy tried to get away.
He stayed barely a step ahead of her, the video showed.
That’s when the first deputy opened fire on Crawford, just before she managed to stab the deputy she was chasing with the knife.
“I tased. It was ineffective, she charged me,” the deputy with the Taser said after the shooting, the video showed.
Crawford’s children became hysterical and ran to their mother but were caught by deputies and handed over to a concerned bystander who offered her help.
“I want to thank the citizen who stepped in to comfort the children during the traumatic and tragic incident,” Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said in the video released by her department. “Nevada County Child Protective Services arrived on scene to take custody of the children.”
Deputies tried to render aid to the wounded suspect immediately but she refused to put her knife down for more than a minute after she was shot, KCRA reported.
Crawford was transported to the hospital where she was pronounced dead.
The Nevada County District Attorney’s Office was investigating the use of force by the deputies, KCRA reported.
Watch the incident unfold in the video below. WARNING – Graphic Content and Obscene Language:
Holly Matkin
