HARTFORD--It's not everyday a mother thanks police the day after they shot her son, but that's what Jacqueline Root, 51, is doing.
While Root is glad her son, Christopher Reh, 28, is alive, she said Hartford Police would have been justified killing him.
Police said Reh injured Officer Andrew Nelson by running into him with his car on Park Street. Despite being injured, Nelson opened fire, shooting Reh twice in the arm, causing him to crash.
"I hope he doesn't spend too much time being remorseful over the fact that he had to shoot my son," Root said. "He did what he had to do with safety in mind, he did his job. And I don't want him to feel bad about that."
Less than two hours before the shooting, Root said she called police to help find her son after he showed up at her South Windsor home acting strangely and appeared to be on drugs. She thought Reh was a danger to himself and to the public.
Police said that Reh had a knife when he left his mother's home, and that he told her he was going to "stab police officers."
Both Reh and Nelson are expected to recover from their injuries.