Wednesday, May 26, 1999 | 9:13 a.m.
Not only were the officers justified, the quick thinking of one probably saved the life of the other, Washoe County District Attorney Richard Gammick said Tuesday.
Officers Matt Dellavella and Pam Cercek shot and killed Kaylin Cotton-Dobie, 34, at an apartment building in southeast Reno on March 24.
Cotton-Dobie had a history of mental illness and was threatening a neighbor on the night of the shooting, police said.
Witnesses said the woman attacked Dellavella, stabbing him in the shoulder. She then turned on Cercek.
Dellavella pulled his weapon and shot the suspect four times. Cercek then also fired one round. All five shots struck Cotton-Dobie. She died later that night at Washoe Medical Center.
The officers both received stab wounds in the shoulder and neck area.
"After reviewing all the available material and the applicable law, it is the decision that the death of Kaylin Cotton-Dobie was a result of her unlawful conduct," Gammick said in a memo to Reno Police Chief Jerry Hoover.
"Not only were the officers justified in the action that they took, but the immediate response of Officer Dellavella may very well have saved Officer Cercek's life," he said.
Considering the number and manner of threats that had been made to other people by Cotton-Dobie, "it is entirely conceivable that others would have been injured had she incapacitated the officers," he said.
"It was through the quick and decisive reaction of Officers Dellavella and Cercek that they survived and were able to neutralize a very serious and deadly threat," Gammick said.
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