Taser used on 75-year-old woman in S.C. nursing home

[MSgt213]

Jan. 29, 2005 | ROCK HILL, S.C. -- A police officer used a stun gun on a 75-year-old woman who became distraught when she could not locate a sick friend at a nursing home, according to an internal report.

Officer Hattie Jean Macon received a verbal warning and was required to attend a Taser retraining course after the investigation found she acted prematurely when she used the 50,000-volt Taser, according to the report released Thursday.

Macon was called to the nursing home after Margaret Kimbrell refused to leave. Kimbrell has said she was distraught after the staff would not disclose the location of her sick friend, and she became concerned the friend had died.

Kimbrell jerked away from the officer and swung her arm at Macon, according to a police report. The officer then fired the Taser, police said.

http://www.salon.com/mwt/wire/2005/01/29/taser/

[Jonathan_Hoag]

1. She physically attacked the officer ...

I do not see what else the officer should have done.

Being old should not be a carte blache to act in any irresponsible way she wants to, including assaulting police officers.

With kids/teenagers you can say they do not know any better but this woman has had 75 years of life experience. She knew better.

[Nite Owl]

2. An officer who cannot restrain

a 75 yr old woman isn't much of an officer. He should be fired not just for what he did but because he had to resort to it.

[MSgt213]

5. The officer was a she. It doesn't say her age but may the officer was 74

[Obviousman]

3. Umm, but she was 75 years old

Don't you think the taser might have killed her, or caused permanent harm?

[WildClarySage]

4. And she's had 75 years to build muscles and plan cunning

ways of attacking police officers. :eyes:

[MSgt213]

6. I find distraught old ladies to be especially cunning. Swingin those old

arms around with such force they can hurt a lot of people.

[Skidmore]

7. Every mental health care worker on lock wards in this nation are

trained in take down methods which do not hurt the person acting out and increases the safety of staff. They don't carry tasers or weapons of any kind. Perhaps law enforcement should be trained to be less confrontational in some circumstances.

[verdalaven]

8. Have you spend time with the elderly at all?

We grow up and hopefully mature, then we grow old and regress. Who is to say she really did know what she was doing? Besides, she thought someone close to her had died. Obviously she was not thinking straight.

And she was 75 years old! Just how much force did she have behind that "swing". The cop wasn't strong enough to take care of this woman without using a Taser? She couldn't duck and try talking her down? Sorry, but this just seems a bit over the top to me.

[China_cat]

13. When I see this

I think about the older people I've been around. My grandmother would lose her balance easily and swing her arms out in order not to fall. And yes, sometimes if we were in her path we got swatted. I've also noticed that tendency in other old people who are unsteady on their feet or are losing their peripheral vision.

There is no reason outside of an obvious weapon (and I'm talking gun here) to use a taser on an elderly person or a pre-teen child. No matter what the police try to tell you, the effects of the taser can last as much as 3 days and can interfere with people who have heart problems. To the point of killing them.

Add to that that the taser is the one with the imbeddable probes that will continue to go on shocking as long as the person wielding it keeps his/her finger on the button (or until the batteries drain) and you get a high level opportunity for abuse.

[MindPilot]

9. After 75 years of life experience one should know how to show

proper servility before agents of the state. Some people are just so ignorant about how to behave properly in a totalitartian theocracy. /sarcasm

[Jonathan_Hoag]

16. Proper servility ...

!= not assaulting. Two totally different things. I am going around not attacking police officers all the time. Am I being to servile in your opinion?

Yes, the younger police officer could have retsrained the attacker but why should she risk injury to herself to avoid minimal risk due to the use of a taser?

When reading replies here I have to wonder whether some people here think 75 year old women are exempt from laws. Like the laws making it a crime to assault a police officer.

[smbolisnch]

17. She was an elderly woman!

I seriously doubt that the officer was in any danger here. Do you honestly believe that a TASER was neccesary? Come ON! :eyes:

[Jonathan_Hoag]

19. How do you define "necessary"?

She was not in mortal danger but the woman did resist arrest and atatcked her. Physically restraining somebody who resists can be a difficult and potentially dangerous process. How do you get handcufs on somebody who swings their arms with no backup?

[TreeHuggingLiberal]

21. "How do you get handcuffs on somebody who swings their arms...?"

Let's see. This is about the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. If a cop cannot control a 75 year old women without the use of a fucking taser...then said officer needs to be kicked off the force or given a desk job. And to defend such actions...I hope you never accidently swing your arms in the direction of a police officer...you just may get shot.

[MindPilot]

20. apparently you missed the sarcasm

But to answer your question, yes you are being servile if the police officer that you would not be assaulting would happen to be dragging your kids off to Christian re-education camp.

I don't think anyone thinks 75 is a law-free zone, but neither is being a law enforcer. If the 75-year-old had taken a swing at me, and if I, a private citizen, had just hauled off and punched that old lady--let alone using a potentially deadly weapon--I would be looking at some jail time and rightly so.

Her swing at a cop is crime worthy of a (potentially)deadly respond whereas her swing at me would be a nuisance I would be expected to deal with.

So why is that cop's safety at work so much more important than the average citizen? It's a more serious crime to assault a cop that it is a private citizen; is that officer's life more important than mine?

Could it be because that cop is an agent of the state and in Red 'Mucra, the state and its agents are above the law?

[Jonathan_Hoag]

22. Apperanly so

One reason is certainly the fact that a law enforcement agent is authorized to use foce when necessary to cary out their duties while a private citizen is supposed to use force in self defence only.

Note that if a 75 year old were to attack you you would have the option to block the attack and remove yourself from the fray. A cop called to investigate that subject does not have that luxury. She had to confront her.

[peacebird]

10. an unarmed seventyfive year old woman is hardly a major threat

a police officer (male or female) is trained to use only the level of force absolutely required. In this case simply restraining the woman would have been sufficient, the use of a taser was a grossly disproportionate response and potentially lethal in an elderly person.

[Warpy]

11. Oh, fer krissakes.

Nurses deal with violent people all the time, especially if they work in nursing homes, and were certainly available to assist. Nurses rely on verbal skills, restrain people only when it's absolutely necessary. Nurses don't use tasers.

That officer needs to attend classes for something besides taser use.

75 year old women can freak out just like anyone else when they get frightened and/or frustrated. However, they're 75, generally not a problem for a young and healthy people to defend against. If all else fails, you can outrun them.

Tasers are being used by police when taking a couple of steps back and listening would serve everyone a lot better.

[Swamp Rat]

14. Monty Python...

Watch out for those deranged and dangerous grannies.

Welcome to DU and good luck!

[JohnLocke]

18. WTF?

She's a 75-year-old! The officer has to shoot her and endanger her life with an electric shock?!

:eyes:

[lonestarnot]

12. WTF? Children now old people! This freak Macon needs to be

shipped back to the Delta.

[saltpoint]

15. What outrages me is Mrs. Kimbrell's concern for her friend's well-being.

How appalling that she was distraught because she could not get information as to her friend's whereabouts. This kind of emotional reaction is NOT to be tolerated, under any circumstances. It is offensive to everyone, and worse yet, it reveals a side of human beings that simply has no place in a tidily-run capitalistic society. After all, rules are rules.

The woman is lucky to be alive. In a no-nonsense nation, where God-fearing authoritarians run the show, her ass would have been hauled off to a deep pit and she would have been stoned to death. This is how it was done in the Old Testament, and by God, this country should NEVER have abandoned those principles set forth in its pages.

An appalling breach of decorum by Mrs. Kimbrell. It has left me shaking with outrage.

Shaking, I tell you.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

23. Your sarcasm has made an important point

Both my mother and (late) grandmother freak(ed) out easily.

I can well imagine either of them going to a nursing home where they thought a friend was staying at, being given the brush-off, and immediately fearing the worst.

[saltpoint]

24. Hi, Lydia Leftcoast. Nice to bump into you again.

Yes. Older people especially are threatened if their friends or family are not demonstrably connected to them. I think the officer in this case should be retained after a substantial fine and a general re-training of sensitivity, AND assigned community service in a nursing home or assisted living facility.

No one inquiring into a friends whereabouts should be given the brush-off (to steal your term), either. It needlessly upsets people and doesn't solve the problem.

Shame on the desk clerk for being such a twit, and shame on the officer for over-reacting so badly.

I home SOMEONE in that damn place re-connected this woman to her friend.