72yr old grandma gets tazered

[Notmuchlonger]

I can´t prove it, but my impression is that no well-mannered, polite and reasonable person is mistreated by the police.
If your Law enforcement officials don´t let the media see the above you´ll never dump the very bad press you have arond here. I´ve always been in doubt, pro cops.

There are bad cops no doubt. However, in my life all my dealings with law enforcement have been positive.

Except that onetime when I did...

 

[TromboneAl]

The cop could have taken this attitude
YouTube - Crazy Ass Video - Angry Motorist Gets Ticket

The rest of the story: It's Walter Brennan in that car!

 

[RustyShackleford]

She surely didn't sustain any injury to her lying filthy mouth and so what's the beef. She is trash.

I'm not condemning the officer in the video, but your statements
are scary. Please tell me you're not a police officer, at least not
one who deals with the public.

 

[FIREd]

Well, she (literally) asked for it! No sympathy from me...

 

[freebird5825]

The cop could have taken this attitude...

That motorist audio had to be dubbed in. There is no body language reaction at all from the officer except for the clipboard grab and littering segment. In the face of all that verbal abuse and swearing, it just doesn't fit. Whatever he was saying, the trooper had the patience of a saint.
I think the motorist was indeed agitated, but not anywhere near the level on the audio track I heard.

I got a major belly laugh when the amount of the fine (2:13 elapsed time) was told to the driver.

 

[youbet]

I think the fact that she had children and those children had children is not pertinent to the issue. I wonder why the media emphasized that? Would their opinion of her actions and foul mouth been different if she had chosen to be child-free?

Also, the fact that she lied in regard to her behavior during the arrest when interviewed prior to the tapes being released tells a lot about her character, her mental health status and her outlook on life. This was probably an experience she would have benefitted from decades ago.

For the safety of the public she should not be allowed to drive again. Of course, since she'll have more money than Oprah by the time the law suites are settled, she'll be able to afford a chauffer anyway.........

 

[MichaelB]

IMHO the woman was uncooperative and defiant and the policeman used excessive force.

Amazing how quickly people choose sides, even when there's no need.

 

[jambo101]

Good thing he had the option of a tazer or he would have thought she was such a threat to his safety he would have had to shoot her.

 

[ziggy29]

Good thing he had the option of a tazer or he would have thought she was such a threat to his safety he would have had to shoot her.

What would you have thought if it were a 22-year-old male acting exactly as this woman did?

 

[MichaelB]

What would you have thought if it were a 22-year-old male acting exactly as this woman did?

It wasn't a 22 year old male, it was a 72 year old defiant and belligerent woman.

 

[ziggy29]

It wasn't a 22 year old male, it was a 72 year old defiant and belligerent woman.

But the point is: Does someone deserve "kindler, gentler" treatment because they are old and female instead of young and male, regardless of how much an ass they are making of themselves?

 

[MichaelB]

But the point is: Does someone deserve "kindler, gentler" treatment because they are old and female instead of young and male, regardless of how much an ass they are making of themselves?

Is the use of force and physical aggression justified because of a bad attitude or in response to a physical threat or aggression toward the policeman? I'm not siding with either - her attitude was unacceptable and his response was excessive.

 

[bbbamI]

I've been pretty busy today, so at this point, I don't think I would want to tangle with either one of them...

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Taser isn't so bad. He could have used his nightstick.

 

[FUEGO]

Is the use of force and physical aggression justified because of a bad attitude or in response to a physical threat or aggression toward the policeman? I'm not siding with either - her attitude was unacceptable and his response was excessive.

You did see the physical threat and aggression, right? The cop had not frisked her, so he had no way to know whether she had a knife or gun on her (it's Texas after all - I'm sure no offense will be taken!). The officer is allowed to use reasonable force necessary to effect the arrest. Reasonable force seems to have been applied here.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

You did see the physical threat and aggression, right? The cop had not frisked her, so he had no way to know whether she had a knife or gun on her (it's Texas after all - I'm sure no offense will be taken!).

Dont mess with...

 

[lets-retire]

From the short amount of video posted it appeared the officer used the appropriate level of force. I will, however, reserve my opinion until after everything is cleared out. The first part of the traffic stop was not shown, so nobody knows what happened then. I count several crimes committed by the woman, that could result in going to jail.

Anytime an officer goes hands on with a person it becomes very dangerous for the officer. Using the Taser allows the officer to subdue an uncooperative person while lowering the amount of danger the officer is facing and lowering the potential injury to the subject. If the officer decided to go the old fashioned route the woman would still be very sore, at the minimum.

 

[jambo101]

Seems just about every one is in agreement that it was ok for the officer to taze the old woman, kind of a sad state of affairs when every one agrees that the cops only recourse to a mouthy grandma is to taze her, wonder what he would have done if he didnt have the tazer,shoot her?

 

[NW-Bound]

Seems just about every one is in agreement that it was ok for the officer to taze the old woman, kind of a sad state of affairs when every one agrees that the cops only recourse to a mouthy grandma is to taze her, wonder what he would have done if he didnt have the tazer,shoot her?

The policeman would then have to use physical restraints to keep her from leaving. She could then have hit or bitten him, causing him to use more force, perhaps knocking out some of her teeth, or breaking some bones. I can imagine it getting a lot uglier.

About the patient patrolman with the belligerent man who kept calling him names, that was so funny. I would not know if the audio was dubbed to make the driver's insults worse like FB suggested, but judging from the car rocking back and forth, the driver was VERY agitated. That's one FUNNY video, and if the verbal insults were real, this patrolman was a saint.

PS. I watched the video again, and twice the driver reached over and grabbed the paperwork from the cop's writing pad. That's a real agressive behavior! This cop deserved a medal.

 

[JOHNNIE36]

The bottom line is that you MUST obey the law. If they say get on the ground, you better get down. Hands behind your back! Yes sir! It's for their safety and yours. This is the way they are trained and it pisses them off when you don't comply. Every officer is different and in some cases you may not get the best one to deal with, but you better comply. I don't care about that woman being 72. She was out of line. Yeah, he could have done something different but he didn't and he was perfectly within his rights and duty and so be it. CASE CLOSED.

 

[samclem]

There's no doubt that she needed to be physically controlled and arrested--8 minutes in a situation where both were at risk due to her erratic behavior is about 7 minutes too long.

I wonder what the cop trainers will say when using this in class. It would seem to me that he had the option of grappling with her and taking her down (arm/wrist lock with a leg sweep, etc), maybe a similar move backed up with the baton, or using the tazer. One advantage of having hold of her is to prevent her from staggering into traffic. A disadvantage with wrestling her down is the increased chance of snapping one of her bones or even a hip--not a minor thing. The tazer probably put her at greater risk of cardiac arrest than other methods. Keeping his distance probably kept him safer from her and from getting pulled into traffic.

She started it, she continued it, she could have gotten reasonable at any point and things would have been fine. Watching the video is a lot different from being on the spot, and I think the cop's actions were acceptable and I hope this doesn't wind up hurting him or his department.

vicente - Unfortunately, there's no way to show the public the 98% of cases there everything goes well. It's the flashy/interesting videos that make the news, no one wants to see the "good" stuff.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Seems just about every one is in agreement that it was ok for the officer to taze the old woman, kind of a sad state of affairs when every one agrees that the cops only recourse to a mouthy grandma is to taze her, wonder what he would have done if he didnt have the tazer,shoot her?

What would be your recourse Jambo101? Are you in the law enforcement field?

 

[aaronc879]

I don't believe the officer used excessive force. He didn't have backup. Trying to take her down to cuff her would've put both of them at greater risk. He acted approprietly.

 

[bbbamI]

Situations and videos like these make me wish every community had a citizen's police academy like we have. The course is fascinating. The public not only learns about keeping themselves and their property safe, they get a better understanding of how law enforcement works.

They get a taste of what it is like to be a police officer; the rules the officers have to abide by, the laws, having to size up a situation in a heartbeat, etc. It also gives a chance for the officers to listen to the citizen's concerns and perhaps improve public relations.

People come away with a much better understanding and I think that is imperative for a united community.

 

[ERD50]

Seems just about every one is in agreement that it was ok for the officer to taze the old woman, kind of a sad state of affairs when every one agrees that the cops only recourse to a mouthy grandma is to taze her, wonder what he would have done if he didnt have the tazer,shoot her?

So, if we have a different view of this from you, that makes it "sad"?

I'd turn your statement around - I think it is sad that someone who has reached the age of 72 has no respect for the law, and does not know better than to follow orders from a police officer enforcing those laws.

If she would have done as she should, there would have been no incident. Now, had the officer just tazed her unprovoked, that would be different. But that is not what happened.

Seems like people on the forum both with and w/o law enforcement experience are not defending the woman, and not judging the cop too harshly under difficult circumstances (count the cars going by).

Nope, my concerns are for the cop, not the woman.

-ERD50