LEWISTON — The Office of the Attorney General has determined that Rumford police Sgt. Tracey Higley acted appropriately in using deadly force to shoot and wound Jessica Byrn-Francisco during an armed confrontation in Rumford last March.

According to the attorney general’s investigation, Higley commanded Byrn-Francisco 11 times to put down her knife before he fired two shots from his handgun to stop her.

On March 18, Rumford police were called to Byrn-Francisco’s home by the 25-year-old woman’s counselor, after Byrn-Francisco threatened to kill herself. According to the investigation, the counselor kept Byrn-Francisco on the phone and called police, according to officials.

Rumford police officer Brad Gallant went to the house, knocked on the door and heard a woman inside. She did not respond to Gallant’s efforts to talk to her, and the front door was locked, according to officials.

Higley joined Gallant at the house, and both officers tried to persuade Byrn-Francisco to open the door. The officers were familiar with Byrn-Francisco, having answered prior calls to her house, and were concerned that she may have become unconscious from the prescription drugs she told her counselor she had taken, according to officials.

The officers attempted to locate the landlord to open the door, but were not successful, so Higley forced open the door. According to the AG’s investigation, the officers saw about 30 empty prescription medicine capsules on the floor and a near-empty glass of water, and believed Bryn-Francisco had emptied the contents of the capsules into the glass and drank the mixture.

When they went inside the apartment, Bryn-Francisco was not there, according to the report, but the officers noticed an open window at the back of the apartment.

While this was happening, the counselor called police again and said she was still talking with Bryn-Francisco, and that Bryn-Francisco told the counselor she had climbed out the window, was feeling very weak and tired and was having trouble breathing, according to officials.

Police began searching for the woman outside, requesting additional help to find her. Police followed footprints leading away from the open window of the apartment and across the backyard in about 2 feet of snow. They eventually found her sitting on the ground under a deck attached to the apartment building. She was still talking with her counselor, and when police attempted to talk to her, she ignored them, according to officials.

According to the AG’s investigation, Gallant grasped Bryn-Francisco’s arm “and attempted to pull her up from her seated position,” but was not successful. He tried again, grabbing her hooded sweatshirt and pulling her up to her feet. When she stood up, Bryn-Francisco showed police a closed, folding knife.

Gallant backed away and ordered Bryn-Francisco to drop the knife and she refused. Police attempted to use a Taser to subdue her, but that failed, according to officials.

As Higley was walking around the apartment to the backyard, he heard the arcing of the Taser, according to the AG’s report, saw Bryn-Francisco holding the knife and ordered her to drop it. She turned toward Higley and refused to drop the knife, despite what the report concludes were 11 separate commands to do so. Higley’s attempt to use his Taser also failed.

As Bryn-Francisco walked toward Higley, with the knife open in her hand, he drew his pistol and walked backward in the snow, losing his footing several times, according to the report.

As he backed away, she continued walking toward him and challenged him to shoot her. Higley continued talking to Bryn-Francisco and and she kept walking toward him and said, “Do it,” according to the report.

As he stood at the edge of an embankment that dropped about 6 feet, Higley fired two shots from his .40-caliber handgun when Bryn-Francisco was about 15 feet from him. Both shots struck her, and officers were able to get the knife after she fell to the ground, according to officials.

Bryn-Francisco was hospitalized for eight days before signing herself out of the Rumford Hospital, according to officials.

She was later charged with criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in jail, according to officials. That case is pending before the Oxford County Superior Court in Paris.

According to Attorney General Janet Mills, Higley reasonably believed his life was in danger and that it was necessary for him to use deadly force to protect himself. That conclusion is based on an investigation of the scene and interviews with those involved, including Bryn-Francisco.

According to the report, Rumford police have had contact with Bryn-Francisco 30 times since 2007, including 13 calls related to suicide attempts or drug overdoses.

After reading through the AG’s report, Rumford police Chief Stacy Carter said Tuesday, “There are times that officers are put into difficult situations and have to make split-second decisions. When they do that, they react the way that they were trained and sometimes the outcome is not as desirable as we hope.

“In this case,” Carter said, “the officers used methods to try and resolve the issue without deadly force. Unfortunately, those did not work, and the officer was forced to act to protect himself and others.”

Higley was placed on leave for 31 days after the shooting, which is standard procedure for police departments. He has since returned to work.

According to Carter, now that the AG’s report is finalized, he will convene a department “incident review team to look at the facts as it relates to the incident and as it relates to the use of policy, training and equipment.

“Hopefully, we can all learn from this unfortunate incident and move on,” Carter said.