72 year old woman tasered in Austin. Justified?? (felons, law)

[SnappyBob]

I saw the footage last night on the news. Personaly, I think they both should be ashamed of themselves. The woman was being very combative and I think she should have been cuffed and arrested for such but I think it could have been done without the taser. Tasering someone is not a trivial thing. People have been known to die from it. Tasers were first touted as being a good tool to use instead of leathal force. So are we to assume that without the advent of tasers he would have been forced to shoot this lady? She should be fined for her behaviour and he should be given some time off without pay for his. If you can't handle a 72 years old woman without first paylizing her with a taser perhaps you need to find some tamer line of work.

[brattpowered]

I wonder if the same people who were supportive of the shooting of Nathaniel Sanders are supportive of this. And if not, why?

[mimimomx3]

It's absolutely disgusting. What on earth could a 72 year old, slightly overweight (sorry, lady) GREAT grandmother do to necessitate that??? She didn't want to sign her ticket. Fine, they have her DL number, her plates AND the video footage. That cop would be VERY sorry had he done that to MY mom or grandmother!!!
Here's the link: Grandmother Tasered at Traffic Stop (http://www.myfoxaustin.com/dpp/news/local/052909_Grandmother_Tasered_at_Traffic_Stop - broken link)

[doctorjef]

I would be very concerned about the potential for a taser to induce cardiac arrest in a 72 yr old woman. Of course, the cop could have wrestled her to the ground and broken her hip! My point is, yes she needed to be restrained but if the cop hadn't been instructed in least restrictive techniques for preventing and managing aggressive behaviour (PMAB), then he was worringly under-trained. Was this APD? I saw the footage on tv up here from Philly but didn't catch the full story other than it had happened in TX. Ideally he should have been able to get granny in a basket hold from behind, purposefully cause her to lose her balance and ease down to the ground while holding her from behind with her arms restrained, then cuff her. This is done all the time by well trained psychiatric inpatient nurses and aides.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by brattpowered

I wonder if the same people who were supportive of the shooting of Nathaniel Sanders are supportive of this. And if not, why?

Nathaniel Sanders was a strong young man with a gun. The officer has a right to protect himself.

I agree with SnappyBob

"If you can't handle a 72 years old woman without first paylizing her with a taser perhaps you need to find some tamer line of work."

The statesman article says she is 4'-11" tall, sounds really dangerous to me. It also says he tazed her twice!

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/2009/06/10/0610tasered.html (broken link)

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by doctorjef

I would be very concerned about the potential for a taser to induce cardiac arrest in a 72 yr old woman. Of course, the cop could have wrestled her to the ground and broken her hip! My point is, yes she needed to be restrained but if the cop hadn't been instructed in least restrictive techniques for preventing and managing aggressive behaviour (PMAB), then he was worringly under-trained. Was this APD? I saw the footage on tv up here from Philly but didn't catch the full story other than it had happened in TX. Ideally he should have been able to get granny in a basket hold from behind, purposefully cause her to lose her balance and ease down to the ground while holding her from behind with her arms restrained, then cuff her. This is done all the time by well trained psychiatric inpatient nurses and aides.

Check out the footage here,

http://www.myfoxaustin.com/dpp/news/local/052909_Grandmother_Tasered_at_Traffic_Stop (broken link)

it was a Travis County Constable Deputy. I guess that is like a street cop for the suburbs outside of the City limits. I can't imagine that big burly constable being intimidated by this frail lady.

[Huckleberry3911948]

when is the last time you saw someone approve of the methods of an arrest by police of a violent offender. a few months back, i saw 30 cops try to take down gently a gangbanger at the trolley.
he was trying to hit his head on the black and white so he could file a law suit and assaulting the officers the entire time screaming police brutality the entire time, the cops never touched him i watched the whole thing.
tell me how its done --- in a gentle manner --non violent arrest of the violent go ahead im listening. when is the last time you saw anybody on CDF approve of any police action, ever. resident felons post here alot.

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

Omg, what a bunch of whimps. I saw the picture of that woman. Does anyone really think she was a threat to an officer? Oh come on! Even if she was combative, (if) they certainly could have strong armed her instead of using a tazer. But that's my opinion.

A gun is a totally different situation. Unless she had a gun or some other kind of weapon I would say that woman was not a threat. Good god, how can anyone compare the two? What was she threatening them with? Her purse? (scenes of laugh in come to mind)


I did not see her as a violent offender. That would be a real stretch. And saying she used profanity? What did she do??? Threaten his ears?

The only thing I could think of was the officer may have had a reaction to what has happened on that highway previously. Don't they call that highway deadly?

[statefan]

Grandmother Tasered at Traffic Stop (http://www.myfoxaustin.com/dpp/news/local/052909_Grandmother_Tasered_at_Traffic_Stop - broken link)

It was a Travis County Constable. He had every right to defend himself and use the taser on the lady. She was belligerent and abusive and needed to be controlled. Not to mention, they were on the side of a busy highway.

The lady said she was not "argumentative or combative" before the dash cam video was released. Since the release, she hasn't had anything else to say and even missed the followup interview with Fox7.

[CptnRn]

There is something seriously wrong if we are hiring constables that can't control an unarmed 4'-11", 72 year old grandmother without using a taser twice. What, was he afraid he might get scratched?