[ArtDodger]

This story is full of holes. She attended a church but not the one that owned the parking lot. The lot actually was for a private school owned by a church (not the one she attended). Not sure why she was in the parking lot at that time. The state police are doing the investigation of the event but shooting was done by a town police officer, a veteran of the force for five years. According to a witness, the officer had his hand in the window when she rolled up the window and started to drive away. Later, the witness evidently changed his story and the officer's hand was resting on the car not in the window. The investigators won't say if the Jeep Wrangler had power windows or hand-cranked ones. The office told her, “Stop or I will shoot”. The first shot was at point blank range. As the jeep moved down the street the officer fired as many as nine more shots, according to witnesses. No information is being released so we don't know which shot killed her, why the argument ensued, how many shots were actually fired.. nothing. Not even the officer's name. He is on administrative leave.

[Altariel]

The husband has already said that her vehicle had hand cranked windows.

Pat Cook’s husband, Gary, is baffled by the explanation. Gary Cook said his wife’s car had no power windows. “Crank [windows],” Cook explained, “old fashioned crank [windows].”

http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/virginia/husband-baffled-by-police-shooting-of-wife-in-culpeper-021012

And a private-citizen witness has verified that the officer’s hand was not caught in the window.

http://wusa9.com/news/article/189808/373/Witness-To-Fatal-Police-Shooting-Says-Officer-Was-Not-Dragged

The officer, according to another witness, did not offer medical assistance when the vehicle crashed.

http://culpepertimes.com/news/2012/feb/09/one-dead-culpeper-shooting/

[microgood]

According to a witness, the officer had his hand in the window when she rolled up the window and started to drive away. Later, the witness evidently changed his story and the officer's hand was resting on the car not in the window.

Please provide the link where you read this.

[Roccus]

According to a witness, the officer had his hand in the window when she rolled up the window and started to drive away

The link you provided in Post #22 doesn't verify that at all.

[Colorado Cowgirl]

I read this story in the Culpeper Star-Exponent newspaper several weeks back. Patricia Cook was a very nice looking woman, much younger looking than her 54 years, so he could have been hitting on her. She may have been looking for a job at the church’s nursery. You are parked in church parking lot, someone thinks you are a suspicious person and you get murdered by a overzealous police officer. Mayberry R.F.D. this ain’t! Sheriff Andy Taylor had better confiscate this deputy’s pistol before he shoots Opie.

[EDINVA]

I’m perfectly willing to let this play out before assigning blame. But, from what I’ve read, the officer didn’t have his blue lights on, which may have led to her suspicion about his actually being a police officer. This is a woman who apparently doesn’t have a lot of first person experience with the law.

Women are constantly reminded that there are some who pose as police officers and pull over women driving alone. Women are instructed in that circumstance to get away from the person posing as a policeman. As I read, it seems it was an otherwise empty parking lot. There was no one to help her if this was a fake cop.

If, in fact, the officer put his hand inside her vehicle (say, to take her license and registration) that was not too professional, either. Again, if she was already suspicious, she’d have logically closed the car window as quickly as she could once his hand entered her vehicle.

Her concern might have been compounded by the disappearance (so far as I recall, unsolved) of a Johns Hopkins graduate student after last being seen in Culpeper on her way to Charlottesville (c. 1995).

[HereInTheHeartland]

“Not sure why she was in the parking lot at that time. “

At 10:00 am?? So we should all face being shot if we are in the wrong parking lot at 10:00 am????

[GracieOMalley]

This was a bad shoot.

Some cops have zero common sense.