Boy does this sum up everything which is wrong with the USA. Apart from the charming touch of cops brutalizing a woman old enough to be their grandma, is the absurdity of mandatory water-profligance in the middle of a desert. From the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, July 5:
Woman, 70, shackled for dry lawn
OREM, Utah — A 70-year-old woman who said she couldn’t afford to water her brown, sickly lawn was briefly jailed Friday after refusing to accept a ticket for violating a city ordinance.Betty Perry has not watered her lawn in a year, said Lt. Doug Edwards, a spokesman for Orem police.
When an officer knocked on Perry’s door, she refused to identify herself or accept a citation for not watering the lawn, and said she wanted to call her son.
As the officer tried to take her hand, Perry tripped on the front step and cut the bridge of her nose. She rolled onto her stomach, putting her hands under her to foil the officer, Edwards said.
Perry was eventually handcuffed and taken to jail, where she spent more than an hour before officials decided custody was inappropriate.
The police officer who arrested Betty Perry was suspended.
“Life is a learning experience, and each officer learns over the course of a career that tactics and responses are not absolute in each situation,” Edwards said.
The officer’s name was not released. Orem is in Utah County, 30 miles south of Salt Lake City.
Brutalize? Someone needs to get the whole story
Brutalized? The officer took her hand and she FELL herself. Of course there is more to this story. This lady’s neighbors say she goes on vacation to Florida and drives a Mercedes. She was arrested for not complying with the officers request, not giving her name, which any police officer will tell you is an offense at any age. She was not cooperative, she could have had a weapon in her house, just because she is 70 doesn’t mean she isn’t dangerous or doing something illegal. Someone aught to find out the entire story. There are now people collecting money to give to his woman, BUT her neighbors have all taken care of her yard for her a couple of times a year and she just lets it go again. Please do a follow up story on this in a couple of months or next year and see if she has made any improvements in her yard, and interview her NEIGHBORS to find out the whole story.
Perhaps you can explain…
…why it is legally mandatory to water your lawn in a DESERT? Green lawns in Utah as if it were Connecticut is an ecological absurdity. Whether consciously or not (it is possible she’s just cheap or lazy), this woman was on the side of REASON.
“just because she is 70 doesn’t mean she isn’t dangerous”—Charming line. Just charming.
Gee, I’m so glad these police sensitivity programs are so effective. Very comforting. Sounds like the old joke—”He hit me in the nightstick with his nose.”
Her story …
Is that the officer hit her with the handcuffs while trying to cuff her.
Maybe the ‘NEIGHBORS’ have a side, too? Beating an old woman because she doesn’t water her lawn (in a desert?) For shame.