Holly MatkinCovina, CA – Officials have released bodycam video of the deputy-involved shooting of a woman who was smashing car windows and then tried to attack a deputy with a 10-pound wrench (video below).
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s (LASD) released bodycam video of the shooting during a critical incident briefing on March 10.
The series of events leading up to the shooting began at approximately 10:03 a.m. on Nov. 26, 2022, when deputies assigned to the LASD San Dimas Station received a report of a vandalism in progress in the area of North Vincent Avenue and East Edna Place, the sheriff’s department said.
“The caller stated a female was swinging a large metal wrench, damaging vehicles as they drove by,” according to the LASD.
Witnesses said the suspect was “swinging a wrench at oncoming traffic” and that she was last seen headed northbound on North Vincent Avenue towards Cypress Street.
Security footage showed the suspect, 25-year-old Bridget Blaney, walking out into traffic in the 700-block of North Vincent Avenue and hitting a vehicle with the metal wrench.
“She swung at this guy in a truck and he had to go into oncoming traffic,” a caller explained in a 911 audio recording. “Now she’s in the middle of the traffic lanes.”
Another caller told the 911 dispatcher that a woman had hit his vehicle with a tool and that she was walking and hitting other cars as well.
A deputy was responding to the scene just as Blaney shattered the passenger window of a vehicle heading north on North Vincent Avenue, the LASD said.
The deputy jumped out of his patrol vehicle to detain her, at which point the suspect marched over to the back of his cruiser and smashed out the rear window with the wrench.
She then charged at the deputy and attempted to bludgeon him with the large metal tool, the LASD said.
Bodycam footage showed Blaney holding the wrench above her head with both hands as she ran towards the deputy.
That’s when the deputy fired his duty pistol at her.
Blaney was hit in her torso by the deputy’s gunfire and immediately collapsed to the ground, the video showed.
Deputies rendered first aid to the suspect until she was transported to the hospital by emergency medical personnel, the LASD said.
Blaney was treated at the hospital and medically cleared before she was booked into the jail facility.
No deputies or civilians were injured during the incident.
The motive for the attack is unclear.
Blaney was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, and felony vandalism, according to the LASD.
The sheriff’s office’s investigation into the incident remains ongoing.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office is also conducting an independent review.
The LASD Internal Affairs Bureau will complete an internal investigation once the district attorney’s review is complete.
Those findings will be presented to the Executive Force Review Committee, which will determine whether the deputy’s use of force complied with the department’s policy.
Watch the incident unfold in the video below. Warning – Graphic Content:
#CA
*potentially disturbing*
Bodycam released:
“A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy shot a woman suspected of vandalism [on November 26, 2022] in Covina after she attacked the officer’s vehicle with a pipe wrench, according to the Sheriff’s Department.”[no audio] pic.twitter.com/qttfPzwvmH
— Shane B. Murphy (@shanermurph) March 10, 2023
Sandy Malone
