Here’s a video of 72 year old Kathryn Winkfein getting tasered by Travis County, Texas, Deputy Chris Bieze after refusing to comply with his demands at a traffic stop. As much as I value law enforcement and their courage to go out their everyday to uphold the law, I think tasering a 72 year old woman was a bit over the top. This guy was twice her size and half her age. I think he could have easily subdued her using lesser means.
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I agree that a tasering probably wasn’t a prime choice, but then you say:
>> This guy was twice her size and half her age. I think he could have easily subdued her using lesser means.
– which, based on how she was resisting and stubbornly trying to evade and return to her truck, means your headline would’ve been “72 Year Old Woman Clobbered by 36 Year Old Cop” instead.
In a society as litigious as today’s, that cop’s agency is going to be like any other: more supportive of him using a taser to get it over with quickly, then dealing with the consequences. Harsh langauge didn’t do the job and it’s too early for a gun. All that’s in between is bare hands, batons, pepperspray, and tasers. The alternative you suggest is manhandling her and getting into a struggle where broken bones, dislocations, and spinal damage can happen.
The moral of this story: that old broad should’ve just STFD and STFU.
how many times did he warn her? the old bitch deserved it.
The woman was obviously focused on using her age and “frailty” to manipulate the situation and get out of paying the consequences for her infraction. I’m a pacifistic person, generally, but her antagonistic behavior left the cop with few options, and I actually feel like she had it coming. I mean, how do you get to the venerable age of 72 and still not know that it’s a very bad idea to f***k with, mouth off to or bait a cop? I thought wisdom came with age. And then she later lied on video and said that she had been cooperative. She must not have know that she was being videoed by the cop car camera.
the cop was wrong in that situation, he could have easily used pure force to put handcuffs on the lady, dealing less physical and mental damage to the victim. It seems that cops use tasers with less and less discretion since the mass adoption of the device. I think tasers should be issued to officers only after they have felt the effects of a taser discharge themselves.
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