The Little Old Lady From Travis County: Part 2

Once again, I sincerely apologize to Jan & Dean for A) butchering a classic and B) attributing it to The Beach Boys in my last post.

If the cops see her on the street, they’re gonna stop her
Go granny, go granny, go granny go
She’ll use some bad words so they’re gonna shock her
Go granny, go granny, go granny go
Well, she’s gonna get tased or hit with a stick
‘Cause the cops can’t subdue an old geriatric

And everybody’s saying that the police have a bounty
On the little old lady from Travis County
She drives real fast and she speeds for fun
She’s the terror of Texas Highway 71

It’s the little old lady from Travis County

The dashboard cam video has been released, showing the footage of a Travis County Deputy Constable tasering 72 year old Kathryn Winkfein after a traffic stop.

Alright, this really doesn’t make either side look good.  In her interview with the local Fox station last week, she told the reporter that she wasn’t argumentative and wasn’t combative.  I won’t go so far as to say she was completely lying, but that was a stretch of the truth.  Ms. Winkfein probably could have used a lesson from Chris Rock in how to behave when approached by the police (contains NSFW language).  Getting out of the car, telling the Deputy Constable to “give me the fucking ticket now” and daring him to tase her are all signals that Ms. Winkfein was wearing her bad idea jeans.

Let’s move on to the officer, Deputy Chris Bieze.  Watch his reaction to Ms. Winkfein.  She dares to question him, and how dare she?  He’s the big man with the badge.  She’s a nobody stopped for speeding.  She better learn to listen and listen good.  His first reaction is to get in her face and yell at her, and then shove her.  But it’s for her safety, of course.

Like I asked before, are the Travis County Deputy Constables so poorly trained or poorly physically able to handle the rigors of arrested a 72 year old woman who happens to be a little feisty?  Maybe.  If their training includes the use of a taser as an attitude adjuster.  Instead of using the taser as an alternative to deadly force, it’s become a tool of compliance, to be used indiscriminately when the officer is not being afforded the proper respect he feels that he is entitled to.

Did Ms. Winkfein comply?  No.

Was she uncooperative?  Yes.

Did she put Deputy Chris Bieze in a position where he would have been justified to use deadly force?  No.

So why is the taser OK?  Because it doesn’t leave a mark because two little burns?  Because it’s supposedly non-lethal?

Maybe it’s me playing Monday Morning Quarterback.  And maybe I can never truly understand what it’s like to be a police officer  But if you’re confronted with a 72 year old great-grandmother, and the only way you can subdue her with a taser, maybe you ought to look for a new line of work.

Otherwise, you’ll just remind people of this guy here: