Greensboro, NC – The family of Chieu Di Thi Vo is challenging the Greensboro police department’s assertion that officer Tim Bloch’s fatal shooting of Vo was justified. For two years, the city refused to release bodycam footage of the shooting, but the shocking video has now been made public.The entire video lasts less than a minute, and less than 10 seconds passes from the time Bloch made initial contact to the fifth and final shot. Vo died in the hospital two days later.
Vo, who was 47 and had bipolar disorder, was carrying a large knife and reportedly chasing her mother around the Aberdeen Townhomes complex. A witness had called 911 to report the incident.
The video shows Vo walking down the path in the vicinity of Bloch, but as family attorney Tin Nguyen points out, she was not lunging toward him or even going in his direction. She seemed unaware of Bloch’s presence,
“We saw she had a knife, but she wasn’t lunging,” said Nguyen. “She was a good distance away, maybe 10 feet, not even moving in his direction. She was following a path. He didn’t seem to register to her. She didn’t look up”
Officer Bloch can be heard yelling “Put it down!” and almost immediately begins firing. There is a person standing directly behind Vo—most likely her mother—who amazingly did not get hit by a stray bullet.
Even though Vo was carrying a knife, the swift use of deadly force is questionable. She was not coming directly at Bloch and no one else was in immediate danger. Bloch could have easily backed up to allow more time to defuse the situation. And why wasn’t a Taser deployed first?
Bloch believes he did everything right, saying, “Wow, this is black and white.’ I couldn’t have done anything better.” He was cleared of wrongdoing by the Guilford County District Attorney. In fact, other cops have said the video should be used for training.
Contrast this with the way police in the UK have dealt with knife-wielding suspects who were much stronger and more agile than Vo, or the Ohio cop who amazingly did not kill a disturbed man with a knife. But far too often, American cops have a reputation for resorting to deadly force, especially with the mentally ill.
“An encounter that short seems like injustice,” said Nguyen. “Greensboro has a policy on how to deal with the mentally ill that they did not follow.”
