D.S. Woodfill

12 News

Mourners at a south Phoenix church on Saturday recalled the happier moments of Michelle Cusseaux's short and troubled life.

They focused on her favorite musicians, including James Brown and the Isley Brothers. They recalled her various pet names. Some called her "Cuddie," while others called her "Chelly Baby". She was remembered as the "life of the party," a joker and someone who was full of light.

It was a time for friends and family to celebrate and reflect on Cusseaux's life and focus less on the darker moments that haunted the 50-year-old woman. Cusseaux had a serious mental illness that her mother said included bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and depression. Still, the subject on everyone's mind – her sudden and violent death at the hands of a Phoenix policeman – found its way into the eulogies and sermons at a funeral for Cusseaux at Emmanuel Church of God In Christ at Buckeye Road and 16th Avenue.

Cusseaux was shot by Sgt. Percy Dupra, a 19-year veteran of the Phoenix Police Department, in the afternoon of Aug. 14 at her Maryvale apartment.

Police said Dupra shot the woman after she met officers at the door with a hammer in her hand. The officers were there to transport her to an in-patient mental-health facility at the request of her mother Frances Garrett, who was contacted at her home in California by mental-health workers who said Cusseaux was a danger to herself.

There are conflicting reports on what led to the shooting. The Police Department was in the midst of internal and criminal investigations, which is standard in all police shootings, but on Saturday, Phoenix Police Chief Daniel V. Garcia said an

independent investigation is in best interest of all parties.

"Bubbly, defiant – always testing the limits," was how Cusseaux's uncle Malik Waheed remembers his niece. "If you wanted something done, tell her she couldn't do it."

"(She was) bright as she could be," he said. "That brightness always showed in her eyes. I saw it when she was angry, when she was sick, when she was sad. There was always a sparkle in Michelle's eye that just smiled. (You) just know that God was looking from behind those eyes. She was a beautiful person."

Kimberly Botello, a friend of Cusseaux, said the two had been planning a trip to Jamaica for Botello's 40th birthday.

"She had a very beautiful heart," she said.

Botello recalled a time when she had just split up with her boyfriend and Cusseaux spoke to the distraught man afterward.

"(She) just told him, you know, what we were arguing about, it's not worth it," she said. "She just embraced him."

At first Botello was upset that her friend seemed to be taking sides.

"I came back to Michelle and I told her, 'Why'd you (do that)?' She said that 'he needed to be embraced.' She took care of him and made sure that he got home safely."

Cusseaux's mother and her appointed representatives, including local attorney Sabinus Megwa and local activist the Rev. Jarrett Maupin, have asked the city to seek an outside police agency to investigated the shooting. On Saturday, hours after the funeral, Chief Daniel V. Garcia said he asked the Arizona Department of Public Safety to conduct the criminal investigation.

Garcia has recently announced several changes at his department in the wake of Cusseaux's death, including more training and a review of its procedures for mental-health pick-ups.