Police officers shot a woman who threw a bottle at them, then charged at the cops with a knife near a Queens Village car wash on Friday night, law enforcement sources said.
The woman — identified by police as Lydia Spicer, 49, of 212th Street in Queens Village — remains hospitalized at a local hospital in stable condition as the investigation into the police-involved shooting continues, according to Chief of Patrol Rodney Harrison.
According to law enforcement sources, the trouble began at around 10 p.m. on May 24, when two uniformed members of the 105th Precinct spotted Spicer “acting erratically” in front of the USA Car Wash at the corner of Jamaica Avenue and 212th Street.
Harrison said the officers pulled their marked cruiser into the car wash driveway, and as they exited the vehicle, Spicer allegedly threw a glass bottle at them. The officers then spotted her holding a knife in her hand.
“Both officers repeatedly ordered the suspect to drop the knife, at which time she advanced towards them with the knife still in her hand,” Harrison stated. “One of the officers fired one round striking the suspect in the lower abdomen before she fled the scene.”
Moments later, authorities noted, two additional 105th Precinct officers spotted the wounded Spicer a block away from the car wash. They approached her and saw that she was still in possession of a knife.
Harrison said one of the officers then used their Taser weapon, striking Spicer and immobilizing her while the other officer placed her in custody. Police recovered the woman’s knife at the scene.
No officers were injured. The woman’s injuries are not considered to be life-threatening, according to NBC New York.
Spicer was later charged with two counts of menacing, two counts of menacing a police officer, and a single count of criminal possession of a weapon.
This story was updated on May 26 at 9:25 a.m.
