Yes, it is not really clever to decline de-icing in freezing rain(?) or at least adverse weather conditions. But...
"What puzzles us is why she declined the deicing," Perry said. "The results were really inevitable. You just can't fly an airplane without deicing. It doesn't make any sense to us."
...why did these guys not stop her from taking off? Yes, the PIC is the PIC, but sometimes we are target-fixated and don't see the big picture anymore...