No police department should ever have to explain why they tased an 87-year-old woman. It’s not that the public doesn’t deserve an explanation. It’s that there is seldom any reason to deploy force against 5’2″ 87-year-old. But that’s what Chatsworth Police Chief Josh Etheridge had to do after one of his officers tased the woman during a “confrontation” behind the local Boys and Girls Club.
The police chief of a small Georgia town is defending an officer who deployed a stun gun on a “smiling” 87-year-old woman, saying she refused to comply with numerous commands to put down a kitchen knife she was using to cut dandelions.
Perhaps we civilians just don’t appreciate the danger presented by a smiling 87-year-old woman — in this case, Martha al-Bishara, who lived across the street from the Boys and Girls Club. I mean, she was carrying a kitchen knife and “refused” to put it down. If we could just see the recordings…
He said there is police body-camera footage of the incident, but he has yet to release it because charges against al-Bishara are pending.Oh.
Because we civilians probably can’t imagine a situation where we might have to use a stun gun against an octogenarian, here’s some helpful statements by the PD to help us visualize how a 5’2″ 87-year-old got the drop on responding officers.
“We were able to contain her to the back area. She was in an elevated position above both myself and the other officer that was there on scene. She did have a knife in her right hand.”
http://fromthetrenchesworldreport.com/police-officers-at-a-tactical-disadvantage-bravely-tase-87-year-old-woman-into-submission/233088
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