Cop Probed For Tasering 82-Year-Old Woman

Chicago Police Say Woman Was Swinging A Hammer When They Arrived At Scene

(AP)  Chicago's Police Department is investigating an officer's use of a Taser last month on an 82-year-old woman who police say was swinging a hammer when they arrived.

Lillian Fletcher was rushed to the hospital after being jolted by the Taser last week, but has since been released, police said Tuesday.

Officials with the city's Department on Aging went to her home Oct. 29 to make a welfare check, and called police when they saw Fletcher in a window swinging a hammer back and forth, police spokeswoman Monique Bond said Tuesday.

Officers arrived and in an attempt to subdue Fletcher one of them used their Taser, Bond said. The department is trying to determine if the officer violated department policy regarding the use of stun guns.

On Tuesday, Fletcher said officers had pushed their way into her home. “They shocked me,” she said.

Fletcher at times sounded confused during the telephone interview. Her granddaughter Traci Taylor told the Chicago Sun-Times that her grandmother suffers from schizophrenia and dementia.

“My grandmother is easily confused,” Taylor told the newspaper, adding that the elderly woman can be belligerent but is about 5 feet 1 and no more than 160 pounds.

“I just don't think they should be Tasing 82-year-old women. That's ridiculous,” Taylor said.

Tasers use compressed nitrogen to fire two barbed darts that can penetrate clothing to deliver a 50,000-volt shock to immobilize people.

Touted by law enforcement officials as less lethal than other ways of subduing combative people in high-risk situations, the weapons have come under fire around the country after they were blamed for several deaths.

In 2005, then-Chicago Police Superintendent Phil Cline temporarily suspended the distribution of stun guns following the deaths of two people after police shot them with Tasers.

Today, about 150 field training officers are set to be issued new Tasers and about 200 sergeants have had the weapons for about five years, Bond said.

The human rights group Amnesty International USA has voiced concerns that police departments are starting to use Tasers more routinely rather than in cases of serious danger.

Taser use by police drew national attention recently when police stunned and arrested a University of Florida student after his fervent, videotaped outburst at an event with Sen. John Kerry in September.

[zulubeat1]

Even though the woman was African American, I think this poem is appropriate for this incident and for what is happening in our country today:

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.


Pastor Martin Niemvller

[toolmangler-2009]

with the body armor Cops have today, they could have walked up to her, let her hit him with the hammer until she couldn''t swing it any more, then walked her to the cruiser, taken her to the E.R. and have her evaluated. end of incident, no taser, no guns, no problem..

[cfin5]

I don''t know what member of the Gestapo it is that trains these officers, but at least he''s doing it right according to them. My brother is a sheriffs deputy and his training included something called "common sense"......Barney Fife wouldn''t have even done that to a 5''1", 82 year old woman. Shame on you guys!

[JoyLeaf41]

They break in when she is in no danger and not a danger to any one else, tazer her, put her the hospital for 5 days and she may need surgery. And what was her crime? Not swinging a hammer, must have been being old. She was clean, feed and in a safe enviroment, until the cops came in that is. If that is policy then policy needs to change.

[libsluvsuvs]

As America moves closer and closer to becoming a fascist police-state, police brutality will become more and more common as our law enforcement officers are transformed from patriots who protect and serve to jack-booted militaristic thugs who kill babies and grandmothers.



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Posted by gunownerdan at 04:47 PM : Nov 07, 2007
+ report abuse

*******

I beg to differ..I would just that law enforcement is just adjusting to a more POLITICALLY CORRECT but at the same time out of control society.

[gunownerdan]

As America moves closer and closer to becoming a fascist police-state, police brutality will become more and more common as our law enforcement officers are transformed from patriots who protect and serve to jack-booted militaristic thugs who kill babies and grandmothers.

[libsluvsuvs]

Posted by NavyRetired2 at 02:46 PM : Nov 07, 2007
+ report abuse

******

you just stand back..let that woman let off some steam..how long do you think a woman pushing 80s swing a hammer?? regardless of the situation..

[libsluvsuvs]

Jesus H *** king Christ..that numb nut who tasered that poor old lady deserves a reviewed, suspended and a good helping of arse kicking.

lack of proper judgement..

[navyretired2]

"Did they ever think about just grabbing the hammer? I mean, if there were two of them, they could have gotten the hammer and this woman would have been neutralized as a security ''''threat''''.

Posted by AgentG1967 at 12:45 AM : Nov 07, 2007"

Forrealsies!

How in the world can two grown officers of the law see no other way to restrain an 82 year old woman, than using a tazer?

No, we don''t know all the facts, and we weren''t there, but you''d have to come up with a really wild, convincing story to make me believe this was the right course of action.

I support tazers and their "proper" use. This is not proper.

[enlightenu]

If they didn''t have tasers they would have shot her dead.

[michellem99-2009]

Cops what are they taught in their training. They are bullirs. They fear everyone but their cop peers. A gramma. My mother is in her 70s and she is weak. I have seen her unable to hold on to a gal of milk. It hit the floor. I can''t myself. It is the rite of passage. From child bearing to old age. The periods stop pull weakness sets in. A light wt. hammer I can tack a nail better than a male.

[mrassekh]

I don''t get it. What''s wrong with swinging a hammer?

[gunownerdan]

As America move closer and closer to becoming a fascist police-state, police brutality will become more and more common as our law enforcement are transformed from patriots who protect and serve to jack-booted militaristic thugs who kill babies.

[luvny-2009]

Liberals fail to realize that being a cop sucks. Posted by MichaelT302

Michael you made some good points but this one not sure, if that were the case then why are guys standing in line for a job at being a cop. They love the uniform and gun thing and they think that everyone MUST respect them period. It''s a huge power trip for too many of them. They are not what they use to be.

[wolf563]

This is typical of a lot of police in the U.S.A . I hope she sue`s his *** and the county for brutality .If you can`t take a hammer from an old lady you should not be in uniform .

[kpnwknj]

A gun I could understand, A jar of acid I could understand but a hammer? With two cops on the scence they could have over powered her,sotrong armed her. Not all elderly people are innocent. Some can cause bodily harm to others with wepons and some get that crazy strength and be combative but with a hammer I believe they could have easily taken it from her without harm. Maybe they were afraid of a cracked knuckle and decided it was easier to give her a heart attack.

[cepe10-2009]

I often swing a hammer in the comfort of my own home - sometimes I even hit sharp metal objects penetrating them into wood materials - i didn''t know it was illegal and the police could potentially break down the door and arrest me for such actions...

[honestabe8]

peguesplace: what kind of drug users have become too violent? potheads normally just sit around and eat doritos.

[honestabe8]

heavily armed punks with guns

[gslinger3]

We need to enact new legislation on making it illegal to own a ball peen hammer if you are over 70 years of age. Those things are dangerous in the hands of untrained users aned frankly, maybe they should be outlawed!