Dare County Woman Shot and Tased

A deputy in Dare County, North Carolina, used a taser and shot a knife-wielding woman after responding to a call reporting her behaving erratically. The quiet area of Colington Island, where the incident occurred, was disrupted on Sunday evening when the local sheriff’s office received a call around 7:05 p.m. The caller reported a woman wielding a knife and displaying unusual behavior. The deputy arrived on the scene about five minutes later, finding a 49-year-old woman walking down a local road.

Upon arrival, the responding Deputy made attempts to communicate with the woman, asking her to drop her weapon. As she did not comply, the deputy used a taser on her before shooting her. Following the shooting, she was taken to The Outer Banks Hospital. At the time of reporting, no information about pending charges against the woman has been released.

Currently, the involved deputy has been put on administrative leave while the incident is under investigation by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (NCSBI). Their investigation will explore the details surrounding the woman’s refusal to drop her knife, her erratic behavior, and whether or not the deputy’s use of force was warranted.

Angel Taylor, a local resident who witnessed the incident from her next-door home, recorded the events on her phone. Taylor recounts seeing the woman being tased twice before attempting to flee. As she ran, the woman dropped her knife, kicked into the woods by one officer as another chased her up the stairs of her home before firing his weapon.

Taylor also noted that the woman appeared to be against being hospitalized and fought with EMS personnel while being per on a stretcher. In conversations with the woman’s boyfriend, Taylor learned that the woman had been experiencing a psychotic break over the past week and a half. The NCSBI has taken over the case per Dare County’s request and is investigating the deputy’s firing of his weapon and whether the woman may have dropped her knife before being shot.