Police settle excessive force suit with 71-year-old (blind) woman

KATU NEWS ^ | April 23, 2004 | The Associated Press

[Arpege92]

"Did you notice the first-blow was thrown by the cops and that it resulted in knocking a prosthetic from the socket?"

Were you there? Did you see who threw the first blow? No, you didn't. This woman sounds like a real pain in the a$$ and her behavior must have been really bad for the city employee to call the police in the first place.

BTW....there are good cops....I'm married to one.

[Arpege92]

"She was blind and partially deaf."

Then how in the world was she able to follow the city employee out of her home? He handed her the warrant and began removing the items....I doubt he had the time to walk her around by the hand.

[Arpege92]

In your 42 years, have you ever needed a LEO to help save you, or come to your aid? Count your lucky stars that you haven't needed a LEO in your 42 years.

[zoyd]

This woman sounds like a real pain in the a$$ and her behavior must have been really bad for the city employee to call the police in the first place.

1. If you're blind, or even partially blind, the idea of city workers rummaging though your yard and packing stuff up is probably a little more distressing to you than it would be for someone who can understand what is going on around them.

2. She's 70 years old.

3. She's a 70 YO lady, with at least one prosthetic eye.

4. Do you REALLY want to defend using a stun gun on her, TWICE, and enough physical confrontation to pop out her fake eye?!?!?!?!

4. Try and understand that we're not talking about YOUR HUSBAND. We're talking about cops who pushed a seventy-year old, partially blind lady to the ground and TASERED her!

Wake up.

[zoyd]

He handed her the warrant and began removing the items....I doubt he had the time to walk her around by the hand.

Why do you doubt this? Shouldn't a 70 year old blind lady be given a LITTLE deference, especially when the city has shown up to take away her stuff?

Is a city cleanup guy SOOOOO busy that he can't deal with a 70 year old lady with any dignity? Are city workers somehow exempt from being decent human beings? I'm sorry, but I'll worry a little more about blind old ladies than I will about the time schedule of city garbage men.

[Politicalmom]

Um...she LISTENED for them.

[Arpege92]

"If you're blind, or even partially blind, the idea of city workers rummaging through your yard and packing stuff up is probably a little more distressing to you than it would be for someone who can understand what is going on around them."

First....for a blind lady, she certainly got around pretty well without the help of anyone to guide her. She couldn't read the warrant according to this article....but she could follow the city employee around her yard giving him nothing but grief.

I never condoned the use of the stun gun. I think the situation could have been handled better by the cops....but she played a part in it as well and her age is used as a bias towards the cops. My husbands grandmother is almost 90 years old....she lives by herself, drives her own car and I've seen her personally rake her entire yard. Just like his grandmother....the 70 year old woman has alot of spunk left in her.

BTW...I'm wide awake! I've seen the way some folks here on FR take a stand against the cops based on one side of the story....just like you are doing now.

[Arpege92]

"Why do you doubt this?"

Because we are only hearing ONE SIDE of the story.

"Shouldn't a 70 year old blind lady be given a LITTLE deference, especially when the city has shown up to take away her stuff?"

Shouldn't you at least hear the whole story before condemning the cops....obviously no. You've already convicted them based on one article....I hope you will not be sitting on a jury any time soon.

"Is a city cleanup guy SOOOOO busy that he can't deal with a 70 year old lady with any dignity?"

Open your eyes....why did the city cleanup guy have to get a warrant in the first place? Could it be that they tried to deal with this 70 year old woman time and time again and she refused to cooperate. I suspect they treated this old lady with respect right from the beginning.

[Arpege92]

"Um...she LISTENED FOR THEM."

Ummmm....she was HARD OF HEARING!!!! Re-read the article...not that it will matter....you've made up your mind.

[Veracious Poet]

Are you serious, are just another facist in GOP clothing? LOL

[Veracious Poet]

REAL men don't need no stinkin' badges!

[Veracious Poet]

***BINGO***

I was starting to wonder if ANYONE would notice this basic right was violated in addition to the severe abuse the women suffered?

This behavior is an outgrowth of relegating our property rights down to that of peons and surfs (e.g. Zoning Laws, Eminent Domain, Property Taxes, etc.)...

The whole incident came about because her neighbors convinced the city bureaucrats to intervene and clean-up the outside of her home to "their" standards.

Another example of gov't. run amok...

[Veracious Poet]

"999 out of 1000 times that people get "beat up" by the police, the person was violent, drunk, and forcing the issue."

If you're going to create hard statistics like the aforementioned, I hope you've got some hard data to back it up!

"As(sic) an aside, this happened in Portland, Or. A liberal town in a liberal state... I am not terribly bothered by them getting taken for a wad of cash.."

Does it matter if it happened at the upcoming 2004 DNC Convention?

The fact is it happened in the "good ol'" USA and it's more than indicative of a general trend in attitude towards the populace in large by LEOs.

Before you counterpoint with some sort of retort alleging I'm just over-reacting, give some serious thought to the issue, weighing in the current debacle in Iraq in which Iraqi POWs were submitted to sub-human treatment.

IMHO, there is a disturbing trend here and I hope it is resolved before it turns into a shooting match between LEOs and citizens afraid for their lifes.

[Veracious Poet]

I have a friend that owns one of the most popular custom hog paintshops in So. California.

It seems he has a large following among LAPD and one afternoon I happened to be hangin' with Jake when a group of SWAT members came in to get quotes for some paint.

A few of the guys were wearing muscle shirts and I noticed a strange tatoo on several of the guys that said "Monkey Killer".

I waited for about half an hour to give the SWAT team time to consume the beer they brought with them, and BS-ing with one of them I asked what the "Monkey Killer" tatoo meant.

He informed me it was a tatoo of honor LAPD SWAT teams wore for pulling the trigger on some African-American "scum" in South-Central.

If this isn't a dead give away to their overall demeanor, I don't know what is...

[Judith Anne]

I have LEOs in the family too. People would be surprised if they knew how strong and mean some old folks are...sometimes it's from Alzheimers, sometimes it's just plain meanness.
;-D

[Arpege92]

"REAL men don't need no stinkin' badges!"

After 42 years, you'd think that a man wouldn't resort to childish name calling!!! I guess puberty hasn't caught up with you yet.

[BushisTheMan]

I have learned NEVER to trust the main stream media, especially where peoples' "feelings" are involved. MSM sucks when it comes to stories against the police, the military, and George Bush. Why would it be different with this story?

Until I see an article that presents BOTH sides, I'm going to be reticent to believe what I read in a Seattle (Liberal land) newspaper.

[Blue Scourge]

hmmmm, thank God for our second ammendment rights....hope we never have to use them, but it's nice to know that they are ther.....hey.....what is that Clinton woman and Kennedy doing to the constitution.

[Onelifetogive]

If you're going to create hard statistics like the aforementioned, I hope you've got some hard data to back it up!

Of course...I made it up...