Wow. I am appalled of the opinion of some liberal thinking anti-law enforcement types that think we're suppose to just endure a deadly blow, as long as it's not from a gun!
Anyone that's made it through their first couple of years as a policeman knows that a demented person with any type of weapon poses a very serious threat. Mr. "Monkey Dust" You're first statement pretty much speaks to your opinion and it's value... You opened with "Right. Sure. Sorry. I won't believe a cops word, not going to happen. Especially a Chicago cop..." So you clearly state that in your opinion no law enforcement officer warrants believing. I've known hundreds of police officers over the years and they are some of the most impeccably honest folks on the planet. (When we found one that wasn't, they were quickly dismissed). When the mentally deranged man's mother says that "he didn't have a gun, he had a bat" I bet even you can believe that!
I'm guessing you've never rolled up on a demented person call and observed their deranged behavior so you might not even be a good person to speak on the matter. I have, on countless occasions, over 34 years of policing and I assure you the only thing about it you can depend on is - that there's nothing about them that you can depend on. They are often absolutely out of their minds, picking up and throwing two-hundred-plus pound officers like they were weightless, throwing pieces of furniture, advancing with anything they can find to strike you, biting your limbs, attempting to take your pistol from you, running you over with a car, and generally just trying to kill you. Many have a super-human strength like a drug user on hallucinogenic drugs! They will hurt you, their loved ones, or anyone else tasked with gaining control of them.
The reason these parent's, (the dad in this case), called the police to begin with is that they were scared to death of their ball-bat wielding son (A GROWN MAN) and wanted someone else to deal with him. The police don't sign on to get killed, whether it's by a mentally stable person or a deranged demented one. They would have MUCH PREFERRED having been able to effectively disarm him and take him to a mental hospital, I assure you.
As for the innocent neighbor lady that was killed, that is a tragedy in every sense of the word. Excepting this lady's loved ones, God Bless them, there isn't anyone that will feel any more grief, guilt, sadness and despair about shooting an innocent bystander, than this police officer. There's a good chance that this officer will NEVER get over this and will not be able to return to policing in any form, at their own decision. This officer will deal with this the rest of their life. What needs to be realized it that this was an accident, a horrible and deadly accident, that claimed a life of an innocent person. This is one of the risks police officers take when they choose this profession. Truthfully, this poor woman shouldn't have even been there in such a volatile situation, unfortunately she was. I can only assume that she was there trying to lend assistance and offer help.
I will NOT however sit around and question these officers actions, having very little actual, factual information of how it went down and exactly what happened. I've policed in some crappy, economically depressed, and racially diverse areas; Chicago - I wouldn't even consider. May God Bless each of the people involved here and give them His' peace.