Posted on 06/02/2009 7:20:45 AM PDT by BGHater
A 72-year-old woman is pulled over for speeding, then tasered and sent to jail. Kathryn Winkfein says she drives to Austin about twice a month to do her shopping. But on a Monday afternoon, a Travis County Constable deputy pulled her over, on her way back to Granite Schoals.
"Due to being a construction zone, and workers being present," Pct. 3 Constable Richard McCain said, "it was 45, she was doing 60."
Winkfein admits she was speeding in the dangerous strip of Highway 71 and Bee Creek.
"He explained to her," Constable McCain said, "sign the ticket stub, it's not an admission of guilt. It's a promise to appear in court. She didn't want to. She said take me to jail."
That's when the officer says Winkfein exited her vehicle and didn't cooperate.
"She refused to get off the side of the road, he said to her, Ma'am, you're under arrest. She used profanity," the Constable said. He adds she got violent, and the officer used a taser on her.
Winkfein showed FOX 7 her taser scars.
"Here and here. Two places, side by side. It's unreal. It's like an electric shock," she said.
A shock Winkfein believes she didn't deserve.
"I wasn't argumentative, I was not combative. This is a lie. All of this is a lie, pulled away from him I did not," she said, reading the arrest affidavit.
The great-grandmother was taken to the Travis County Jail, where she was booked for resisting arrest and detention. She was released shortly after. Now, Winkfein has hired attorneys to protect her rights.
When asked if it was appropriate for the arresting officer to have used a taser, Constable McCain answered yes.
Yeah that 72 year old woman put the officer in fear of his life with her bad language.
He’s lucky she didn’t die.
No argument there, I’ve had a share of discourteous (read: @$$hole) cops in my day. They seem to have been balanced out by the guys that are professional, but I have no doubt that, were I a black guy, they would have been far less cordial.
Pretty weird, that stuff.
Why is it not legal?
If someone cusses me out am I allowed to make a citizens arrest and detain them? If I had to physically restrain them I’m certain that a DA would charge me with false imprisonment.
She wasn’t charged with assault remember. So why is cussing out a cop illegal? What is the charge? Disrespect?
I’m not sure about that. What about business at a doughnut shop?
BTTT.
Seriously, the officer MAY have been verbally abused by her and, if so, would have been acting within his authority to tell her to cooperate or face arrest. If she continued, she could have properly been arrested. But using a taser? Come on, what was this guy worried about, her body slamming him? Puhleeze - this seems like a case of excessive use of force.
Of course, I do reserve final judgment until the dash cam film shows up, but this seems pretty obvious.
Ya, got it. Can’t watch videos on company time.
Effective communication - the key to success
Refusing to sign the ticket is definitely illegal. The ticket says you agree to show up in court, which you cannot legally refuse to do. If you do, they can arrest you to make sure you do show up in court. For the most part though, you are right, you can tell an officer to shove it and there’s not too much he could get you for that might stick, although “Causing a Disturbance” is often a favorite.
So then arrest her. Taser not needed - what was she, 6' 6" and 275, just retired from the Cowboys front line? I want to see the dash cam, but this seems to be an obvious case of excessive use of force.
I understand. Your line was still funny, though.
You misspelled country.
If a “cop” needs to use a taser to handle a 71 year old lady, he’s in the wrong business.
But then, MOST of them are!!!
I would’ve let her go. So what if she cursed me - she already got the ticket.
Because man handling a combative elderly woman is far more likely to injure her than a taser. My mean arse granny dislocated shoulders and eventually broke her hip getting into tussles. Not to mention trying to grip her arm would simply result in tearing her very thin, delicate skin.
Wish we’d had a taser (I’m not even half kidding), she use to chase the great grandkids with a butter knife and rap their heads or knuckles if they weren’t fast enough to get away. One time she pelted the snot out of us with apples.
She also jumped on the back of a nurses aide and tried to strangle him with a stocking. Beat the crap out of her room mate with a plastic water carafe.
She’d seem perfectly normal until she didn’t get her way and then boom... mayhem and destruction. And it was always everyone else’s fault and she was a perfect model of propriety and everyone else was lying and defaming her.
She remained physically agile and verbally facile much longer than her reasoning skills and ability to judge and control her own behavior did.
Brilliant!
Funny...I would say she is lucky she didn't die! What would we be talking about if she had run over one of the construction workers or if she had stepped in front of a car while she was having her tantrum.
The philosophy is you are more likely to hurt a person who is resisting you by grappling with them than tasing them. It’s one of the selling points of taser - safer for bost the cop and the suspect, supposedly. Look for more of this in the future.
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