Taser used on 72 yr. old Granny...

[bryang]

After the music stops and the smoke clears, we're going to find that tasering an unarmed 72 year old person of feminine gender, regardless of her perhaps bizarre antics, is not recommemded procedure.

Anybody wanna' bet?

I think you are right, Oldgringo, this will probably be the official announcement.

The behavior of the 72 yr old female was certainly unbecoming of a great-grandmother, or anyone for that matter. However, I agree that the officer may have reacted to her not respecting him and let his anger cloud his judgment and then came the dare....
-geo

[k6gixx]

If he had to take her down it would have been much worse for her. His only options were a: tase her b: spray her c: use his baton or d: use a pressure point or physical force designed to put a healthy male on the ground. You decide. I do this stuff for a living and IMHO the officer used the most effective, least destructive force necessary to subdue the individual.

With all due respect, I call horsehockey on that; using violence to stop a hissy fit? Here is another option, reasoned discussion and the utilization of your best weapon, your brain. As I stated in another post, the deputy carries an equal amount of blame for losing his composure.

The only problem with this argument, is that there is no reasoning with these people. Losing his composure is definitely not the best thing that could have happened, but honestly a 72 yr old anything should know better than to throw an infantile tantrum on the side of the road. If she had a problem, she could have fought the ticket using the court system. As has been said before this is Travis county. And no violence was not used to stop a hissy fit. It was used to effect the arrest.

[kd5zex]

The only problem with this argument, is that there is no reasoning with these people. Losing his composure is definitely not the best thing that could have happened, but honestly a 72 yr old anything should know better than to throw an infantile tantrum on the side of the road. If she had a problem, she could have fought the ticket using the court system. As has been said before this is Travis county. And no violence was not used to stop a hissy fit. It was used to effect the arrest.

I can't comment on the applicability of reasoning as I was not present. However, from what I have seen there was little effort made in doing so. In fact, the woman repeatedly said that she would sign the ticket but it seems the deputy had already made up his mind on the outcome of the stop. If one has to resort to the use of a Taser to effect the arrest of an obviously physically inferior person perhaps one should rethink their career path.

"Effect the arrest" is law enforcement legal semantics, Electro-Muscular Disruption was 100% unnecessary in this situation and many others which I have seen in the recent past. The seemingly standard issuance of orders and threat of further assault, oops I mean arrest effecting, while people are on the ground writhing in pain and possibly incapable of complying is over the top as well.

I just watched the video again several times, the whole thing stinks to high heaven. The encounter degraded when the deputy screamed at the woman Drill Instructor style, he then throws his own tantrum and throws his ticket book down (which is conveniently edited out of the MSM reports).

The problem with Tasers is that there are little to no residual effects, most of the time, thus they can be used indiscriminately. Or maybe I am wrong all together, perhaps we should issue them to supervisors in all businesses so they can Taser their employees when they act up or act defiantly. Heck, maybe we should start a program to hand them out at the hospital after you go home with a new baby so the parents can use them when they become unruly. We could call the program OTPC, "One Taser Per Child".

[casingpoint]

The problem with Tasers is that there are little to no residual effects

There is a growing body of evidence tasers are directly responsible for some deaths and are, in fact deadly weapons. You get a cop gone irrationally ballistic on you with a deadly weapon, what are your rights to defend yourself?

[subsonic]

She acted like a punk and was treated like one. If she wants to be treated like a lady she should act like one.

If the driver was a minority youth acting the same way and the cop tased him, it wouldn't be news. Why should she get special treatment because of sexism or racism or other isms?

[Oldgringo]

She acted like a punk and was treated like one. If she wants to be treated like a lady she should act like one.

If the driver was a minority youth acting the same way and the cop tased him, it wouldn't be news. Why should she get special treatment because of sexism or racism or other isms?

You're right! With all of the publicity and conversation this incident has prompted, I suspect the LEO now wishes that he'd just pulled his .40 S&W (or whatever) and blown the old biddy to smithereens. That would've shown the media and everybody else who was in charge - by cracky.

[bryang]

She acted like a punk and was treated like one. If she wants to be treated like a lady she should act like one.

If the driver was a minority youth acting the same way and the cop tased him, it wouldn't be news. Why should she get special treatment because of sexism or racism or other isms?

You're right! With all of the publicity and conversation this incident has prompted, I suspect the LEO now wishes that he'd just pulled his .40 S&W (or whatever) and blown the old biddy to smithereens. That would've shown the media and everybody else who was in charge - by cracky.

[RiverRat]

Me thinks there must be more to this than meets the eye.

First: What is a deputy constable? Is it city or county or court? He wouldn't be doing a traffic stop as a part of his daily duties in this county. He delivers warrants. That's almost like a traffic stop by a Park Ranger of Border Patrol for speeding. There are probably 30 LEO departments in Travis Co. already that make a living off of writing speeding tickets.

Second: I only saw the 20 seconds that the Austin evening news let us see. Not enough info to even warrant a good opinion.

Third: Why is the woman out of the car on the highway? Every time I've tried to get out of the car the LEO's freak out (in the OLD days it was good manners to to stop, turn off the car and get out and meet them behind the car) and now tell you to get back in the car.

Fourth: The woman was very bad mannered. I'm not sure how illegal that is. Obviously, it must be illegal to hack off a deputy constable using words.

Fifth: The LEO was not very well mannered either. He bullied her out of the road. I was offended. No matter the rude woman, he bodily bumped her using his pot gut to get her behind the car. He made initial contact. That was uncalled for on his part. He could have used words and politely asked her to move rather than provoke her even more. It was just a traffic stop for speeding....not a felony robbery stop......just to fill someone's government coffers.

Sixth: It was a poor example of a traffic stop aggravated by cheesy news reporting with too little info trying to stir up viewers and trouble.

These things just upset me on both sides of thought.....

[Originalist]

Ok, I finally just watched the video and as much as there are different things he could of done I do not think him tasering the lady was wrong. Additionally, the belly bump to get her out of traffic..... well, again I think she brought it on herself. The signature on the ticket is a promise to appear, she refused to promise to appear so she deserved to get arrested. She also didnt need to be standing in traffic and once the officer decides to arrest her, she is in his custody and he is responsible. She was actively resisting the officer and even attempted to reenter her vehicle. I dont think I would of held out as long as the officer did. I probably would have tased her as soon as she started to walk towards the drivers door the first time.

[k6gixx]

The problem with Tasers is that there are little to no residual effects

There is a growing body of evidence tasers are directly responsible for some deaths and are, in fact deadly weapons. You get a cop gone irrationally ballistic on you with a deadly weapon, what are your rights to defend yourself?

Expandable batons are directly responsible for some deaths. O.C. spray is directly responsible for some deaths. They are not called non lethal they are called less lethal. The use of force continuum for most agencies allows for the use of less lethal force to effect the arrest in order to protect the life of the officer, general public and the person from themselves. It may be out of the ordinary, but this was in no way unwarranted. What would have happened if the lady had somehow escaped the officer and gotten back in her car? How much force is the officer going to have to use now to get her stopped and in custody? How many people will be hurt/maimed/killed in the process? Will it be an innocent child? Too many what if's. Get the suspect in custody using the least amount of reasonable force possible so we can all go home to our loved ones. That's what we all strive for, end of story

[Bob Landry]

If you listen to the audio, he tazed her after she finally said to give her the ticket and she'd sign it. Big no-no.
This is just another shining example example of a not very smart cop with maximum ego and minimal training. I hope the county is already deciding how large a check this one is going to cost and righfully so. After that's said and done, I would go after that idiot constable in civil court and every other avenue I could pursue until he was reduced to rent-a-cop status. Constables are elected cops anyway. Are they even required to have any knowledge about law enforcement. That moron obviously watched too many reruns of Mayberry RFD. I hope he gets everything he has coming..

[Originalist]

Once the officer was committed to the arrest it would have been bad business to go back and say "well ok, since your gonna sign it now" She was only going to sign it to avoid being arrested. THe officer continued to tell her she was under arrest and she continued to be non compliant and was wondering around the area between the cars.

Suspect resisted arrest, was not injured, the officer was not injured, no property damage caused and the arrest was affected. Good Job!

[casingpoint]

Catch the video. See that way that Limey cop pushes the blonde back? Man, that was a really stupid bad move in my book.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... -secretary" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[surprise_i'm_armed]

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/n ... XU%60UZTYU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;]UWUcUWUZUaUaUcTYWYWZV&urcm=y

For her questionable behavior, granny has received a $40,000 settlement from Travis County.

SIA

[Keith B]

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/n ... XU%60UZTYU]UWUcUWUZUaUaUcTYWYWZV&urcm=y

For her questionable behavior, granny has received a $40,000 settlement from Travis County.

SIA

They should have fought this one. She was totally wrong in fighting the officer. Like it or not, you get pulled over, you sign the ticket and fight it in court like you are supposed to. You don't pull the kind of stuff she did and then claim your civil rights were violated, then get handed $40K to shut up.