Re: The Decline of Civilization:
| Submit your comments on this article |
| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Cops Disciplined for Tasering Grandmother |
| 2004-08-22 |
| WHEN GRANNIES GO WRONG ... Next Geraldo! Fri Aug 20, 5:04 PM ET KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Police said Friday two officers have been disciplined and department policy changed following an investigation into the officers use of a taser when arresting a 66-year-old grandmother who honked her car horn at a police cruiser. "Why you [zap!] little [twitch] whipper [zap!] snapper [twitch] I'll give [zap!] you [twitch] what for!" Louise Jones was arrested in June on charges of misuse of a car horn on a city street, resisting arrest and intentionally inflicting bodily harm on an officer. Her husband, Fred Jones, 74, was also arrested and charged with interfering with an arrest. Police said Louise Jones tussled with officers when they tried to give her a ticket for honking the horn. One of the officers used the taser, which is capable of issuing a 50,000-volt shock, to stun her. "Drop the knitting needles, granny, and back away from the car!" The officers said Fred Jones then came downstairs and jumped on one of the officers' backs. Louise Jones said she pulled away from the police when one of the officers grabbed her arm, and her husband said one of the officers had his knee on his wife's chest. "Watch out, she's got photos of the grand kids and she's not afraid to use them!" As a result of an internal investigation, the department has increased the threshold for when taser use is appropriate and now requires a field commander to look into each taser deployment. Police also have developed a task force made up of community members and department personnel to look into the department's current taser-use policies. "This was an unfortunate incident that I believe could have been avoided if there would have been a less confrontational environment," said Chief Richard Easley in a statement. "Officers of this department, however, are held to a very high standard in their professional conduct, regardless of the conduct of other persons." Police said the investigation was delayed because Louise Jones and other witnesses declined to be interviewed by investigators, though the department did review affidavits from Jones and the witnesses that were submitted by her attorney. Police said the officers involved did cooperate in the investigation. The statement didn't indicate how the officers were disciplined. They were probably put on administrative duty as desk jockeys and forced to answer all the email requests for video tape of the take down. |
| Posted by:Zenster |
| #7 I am shamed - I don't have it - sorry. But I can see it clearly in my mind's eye - excellent description of The Gap, heh. I'll keep an eye open - it'll come along (or the components needed) sooner or later... |
| Posted by: .com 2004-08-22 9:22:53 PM |
| #6 .com, goodness knows that you probably have an image of the cartoon I'm thinking about. It shows this yuppie couple touring their parents through the den of a new house they bought. The yups are saying; "... and the television goes right into this brick nook and all the DVDs fit just perfectly onto the shelves next to it!" Meanwhile, as their parents cringe, they're pointing directly at the |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-08-22 9:18:02 PM |
| #5 Lol, AC - too true! Re: The Decline of Civilization: |
| Posted by: .com 2004-08-22 7:13:34 PM |
| #4 AC, try and find some consolation by imagining how that woman's children will one day talk to her. Insert endless rant about the decline of modern civilization >here<. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-08-22 5:02:38 PM |
| #3 Cool pic .com, looks like my mother and her sewing circle. A while back I happened to overhear one side of a cell-phone conversation between a graduate student and her mother. The conversation was pretty heated and the grad student soon began calling her mom various obscene names, then hung up with steam almost visibly coming out her ears. She looked at me and said, "Sorry, doc, my mother just really gets to me sometimes and I lost my temper." "If you can handle it, I can," I said, "but I'll tell you something: I am 53 years of age and my mother is 77, but if I talked to her like that even now, she would get into her car and drive across town to slap my face." |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2004-08-22 3:06:21 PM |
#2 "But Sarge, man they taunted me and even flipped me off!" |
| Posted by: .com 2004-08-22 5:49:06 AM |
| #1 "Hey Ralph - zap any grannies lately?" (snicker) It'll be hell at the precinct... |
| Posted by: mojo 2004-08-22 4:39:13 AM |