Elderly woman slammed hard by police at Walmart (caught on video)

[Lorien]

Run time: 07:07 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xW_-bSxTyI   Posted on YouTube: August 02, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: August 10, 2009 By DU Member: Lorien Views on DU: 4540

 
On the night of August 1, at a Whitehall, Ohio Walmart, Virginia Dodson could not remember why she was sitting alone in a car. Coming to grips with her enclosed environment, it dawned on her that she did not know how to unbuckle her seat belt either. Panic began to take hold.

Her solution was to scrounge up a steak knife and cut through the straps, eventually finding her way into the confusing world of the parking lot. It was not long before the police were called.

Virginia, an 84-year-old African American, has Alzheimer's disease. Like many other sufferers, the responsibility for her care fell to her adult child. Her daughter, however, was inside the store.

It was only a short matter of time before the police were called.

As she wandered the parking lot calling her daughter's name, she was approached by a white, female officer who clearly ordered her to drop the weapon. She did not.

What happened next was captured on video and uploaded that same night to YouTube by user "mainetaine187," who says on camera as the scene escalates, "We gotta get real footage of this shit, haha!"

http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/08/video-ohio-cop-bodyslams-knife-wielding-grandma/

[my2sense]

1. This is heartbreaking

Surely this officer could have used less force in handling this woman.

[BlooInBloo]

3. Hey - how do you know that little old lady isn't The Infamous Parking Lot Steak Knife Slasher?

[Lorien]

5. She could have easily taken the steak knife away without knocking her

to the ground. Excessive force; when are we going to stop tolerating it?

[EFerrari]

9. When Doug went into an episode, he got scared, too.

And he was potentially violent, twice my weight and a foot taller.

Shit, if I could talk him down, this cop could have spent a few minutes TALKING this lady down.

[Lorien]

11. In this case she wasn't violent. She used the steak knife to cut her seatbelt

off because she couldn't remember how the seat belt worked. She probably was barely aware that it was still in her hand when she went looking for her daughter. She just wanted to find her daughter-SURELY the cops could have helped her instead of knocking her down and injuring her!

[EFerrari]

12. Yep. She probably didn't even know she still had the knife in her hand.

Unbelievable.

[BlooInBloo]

2. I guess she showed that little old lady. I'm sure she's proud.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

32. Hey. You gotta practice that Judo learned in the academy on SOMEONE.

Fucking pig.

[crim son]

4. Jesus Christ.

There are too many incidents of unnecessary violence involving the police. Period. Obviously the vast majority of them are good cops, but does that mean we should just TOLERATE this shit? Every day you read/hear/see something like this.

[nosmokes]

38. The majority are 'good'cops? Then WTF don't they open their mouths about

their steroid raging, angry at the world racist compadres? I used to thinks most cops were OK, but scores of years later seeing them up close and personal in different situations and different agencies in different jurisdictions I'm of the opinion that you have a better than 50% chance of interacting with a criminal wearing a badge than a 'good cop.'

[EFerrari]

6. Fucking pricks.

[yowzayowzayowza]

17. 2nd that. n/t

[madaboutharry]

7. I think that this is the result of

poor training.

[EFerrari]

8. What kind of animal do you have to be to do that to an old lady?

Do these assholes not have language? They have no business walking around armed in our communities.

[Lorien]

56. And what kind of animal would defend what the cop did? Oh yeah

THIS kind: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6264245

[Xicano]

10. n/t

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aDupUjeNRA

[Lorien]

14. I'm guessing that that didn't happen in America

I'm not an advocate for any kind of violence, but I'm glad the crowd recognized police brutality when they saw it and put a stop to it!

[EFerrari]

22. Not like the ballpark video. Did you see that?

The cops tell the people sitting around their victim to move away and, THEY ALL MOVE.

What is THAT? If those people had just stayed put, the cops wouldn't have been able to tase that man.

[stlsaxman]

13. That officer deserves to imprisoned for this. AND pay her victims hospital bill.

IN FULL!

[GReedDiamond]

15. Welcome to the nightmare that is America, circa 2009...

...these "police officers" should be prosecuted, tried, convicted and jailed for a long time.

[demodonkey]

16. Long term care for the disabled of ALL ages is something NObody is talking about.

HR 676 provides it, but WHO IS LISTENING?

[EFerrari]

21. How are you holding up, MB?

:hug: to you.

[demodonkey]

39. Thanks -- my mother is home since March and she and I are BOTH better off and saner for it...

...but we are constantly hounded. (Contact me off-board and I will tell you more since there is legal crap pending.)

My mother served as Judge of Elections in May!

And we are still fighting for voter-verified paper ballots, of COURSE.

[Chulanowa]

24. We're facing cuts at the home I work at

A lot of the people who are in need of skilled nursing care don't have money or insurance, and instead we rely on state grants.

We're being told the Washington Budget can't quite make it. Well, we're sure as hell not going to turn these people out into the streets, so that results in cut hours for the employees... which results in the place ending up understaffed. And the insanely stupid thing is, when state comes in and sees we're understaffed, we get negative marks which lead towards further cuts.

I can't tell what I would have done if that had been my mother or grandmother. But I DO know that that sort of force was completely uncalled for. I've had my share of removing dangerous things from the hands of people with these conditions, and never once did I need to smash them into the fucking ground.

[Ilsa]

29. It's obscene, isn't it. Her daughter didn't have anywhere to take her

while she went shopping, I bet. Taking care of an elderly relative is hard enough, but having them mentally disabled creates so many problems.

[Tim01]

18. I wonder if things didn't go the way the officer thought they would.

I'm sure she has trained and trained to disarm people with a knife just that way, and it is probably department policy. But that pool old woman is so much smaller, lighter, and more fragile than the big cops she trains with and the pieces of shit she normally deals with who would actually like to disembowel her.

I hope the old woman is ok.

[Chemisse]

20. Ahh, I bet you're right.

It makes sense that she would have a specific procedure to follow,and that the lady got walloped onto the ground because she is so light. And the poor thing must be so physically fragile.

So are cops trained to see the ambiguity in situations like this, consider the situation, the woman's age, the fact that she was not threatening anybody with it? Or is it just: she has a knife, she won't drop it, so proceed to flip her onto the ground.

I hope she is alright too. An injury like that could kill an 84 year old.

[Tim01]

25. I think cops are trained to follow procedure

so the department won't get sued. If the cop follows procedure they can say in court they were following procedure. If they do not follow procedure everybody is vulnerable to a lawsuit. And Americans just LOVE to sue.

I think the days where cops are expected to actually think are over.


Lawyer "So, since you didn't follow procedure, the confused old woman with the knife accidentally cut her hand."

Cop "She is an old woman, I didn't want to hurt her."

Lawyer "As a result of your decision to ignore procedure my client was injured. You, and your department, and the city government will be held accountable."

[Lorien]

30. Do you know for a fact that her actions were based on a standard

"procedure"? When does common sense come into the equation? Do you think that the department WON'T get sued for injuring the woman?

[Tim01]

31. No. I am guessing.

I don't actually know. I know some cops and I am making a guess.

I have trained with some cops, that procedure.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

33. A foot sweep or leg reap on pavement can be a deadly throw. I hope they teach THAT little tidbit.

[Tim01]

36. Your knowledge is awsome. That's great. nt

[Hassin Bin Sober]

50. This isn't meant to sound funny but I hope her wig provided a little cushion on the pavement.

That throw, even on a mat, is enough to knock out a healthy person not trained to fall.

[Chemisse]

46. An older cop in my small town went in and talked down

a guy holding his wife hostage with a gun. All went well, nobody was hurt.

But it was totally against procedure and the cop got fired.

[Tim01]

49. I think a bad side effect is that it trains cops not to care.

As in your example. If a cop tries to do the right thing, based on his assessment of the situation, he will be fired.
So they are teaching an attitude of "Fuck it, not my problem, I'm going to follow procedure."

A famous gun fighter cop in New York was on stake out a lot of years ago(probably 30 years) at a convenience store. A youth entered the store acting strange.The cop had a "feeling". This cop, who had shot and killed lots of people, took off his protective gear and left his hiding place and tackled the youth, 15 years old. It turned out the kid had a blank gun that looked real, and was going to try to rob the store. The cop was given praise for probably saving the kids life, and told not to break procedure again, and that was the end of it.
He said today he would certainly be fired or removed from street duty.

[PA Democrat]

19. That poor woman. She's lucky she didn't break a hip after being thrown to the concrete like that..

[nosmokes]

23. And that's only one reason I call 'em PIGS.

[Tim01]

28. Police officer shot in the face on video. You'll like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEpUtoUzE4U

[nosmokes]

35. No, I won't. And how asinine of you to assume that because I believe the pigs

are power trippin and trigger happy profiling racists that I would revel in one pf them getting shot in the face. That's the sort of action you and your ilk get your rocks off on. I think it's disgusting and reprehensible.

[MuseRider]

26. Poor thing, poor lady.

This is so uncalled for, she is tiny and old and confused. Is this how we are going to treat our elderly citizens when they are old, tiny and confused? There is no humanity left in a goodly portion of this society.

I am certainly glad after seeing this that when my Grandmother went running out of a dressing room in her undies screaming that she did not know me and why was I taking her clothes away it was years ago before this kind of crap seemed to happen.

Poor little lady. Why did they take her daughter away? You would think her daughter could have been a great deal of help calming her mother down.

[Alameda]

27. I'm curious why a steak knife was left where she could get hold of it.

What a tragic situation. I have been on the subway when a man with a steak knife wandered around the train....it was very disconcerting to say the least.

[Best_man23]

34. We used to train cops to think

Now, they're only trained to beat, taze, or shoot first and then ask questions later.

[Lorien]

37. Eight years of BushCo rotting the Country from the head down. nt

[bjobotts]

40. Stupid fucking authoritarian cop.A nurse would have know immediately what to do.

[bjobotts]

41. If she had a knife in one hand she had a cane in the other and her age made her no threat.

[bjobotts]

42. If the cop is that stupid on appraising the situation she should be fired.

[bjobotts]

43. Else she might start considering canes lethal weapons too.There's a 90y/o with a hammer, SHOOT HER

[bjobotts]

44. Ther's no excuse for that kind of paranoia that a cop feels the need to body slam an old lady

[Klukie]

45. Many gray areas here....

none of which involve the 84 year old woman herself..she has dementia! the police officer followed her training yet she failed to assess the situation adequately.....the daughter left her 84 year old alzheimer afflicted mother in the car with a knife while she went shopping. A few angles here that ultimately led to a bad outcome.

[Chemisse]

47. Yeah, it's not as clear as a Rodney King beating

I can see both sides on this one.

[indimuse]

48. What..

Do we have to Police the POLICE???? F*CK! :mad:

[WhoIsNumberNone]

51. I am no cop-groupie, but-

I gather those cops were trying to 'disarm her as quickly as possible', but slamming her to the ground like that was excessive. However I think the daughter gets some of the blame for this too- She knew much better than the cops that her mother was subject to dementia.

I'm reminded of those stories you hear sometimes about someone who left their dog or their kid in a car for 5 minutes while they went in the store and came back to find the dog/kid dead from the heat. The daughter thought it would be okay to leave her for a few minutes and look what happened.

I'm not letting the cops off the hook here, but they aren't the only ones at fault.

[Lorien]

52. Not dementia; Alzheimer's. Our country offers NO HELP for single adult

children who have parents with Alzheimer's. The daughter probably thought she was safer in the car because she might wander off in the store. Why the knife was there? Who knows? The old woman could have slipped it into her own purse after a meal. NOTHING excuses the cops actions.

If we as a society cared about one another we would see to it that there were quality nursing home or home health care for 84 year olds like this. It can be far too overwhelming for a single working woman to cope with on her own.

[WhoIsNumberNone]

54. I'm not excusing the cops

Perhaps "I'm not letting the cops of the hook" wasn't clear enough. But I do agree with you second point.

I wonder what a healthcare wingnut (one of the ones who's been disrupting townhalls) would say about this video if you framed it like that...

[SKKY]

53. I understand disarming this woman for her own safety and the safety of others...

...but Jesus H. Christ in a chicken basket, did this officer not like her chances against an 84 year-old woman? Did she really have to throw her down like that? You can see the blood on the concrete under her head. When did we stop teaching police officers to think?

[Lorien]

55. Believe it or not there are pro-Authoritarian nuts here on DU DEFENDING

what the cop did: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6264245

If these are some of the "New Democrats", then I want no part of what the party is promoting!

[EFerrari]

57. Freaks.