Stupid Cops

[rick_iles]

Nope! I ain't buyin' that an 87 year old senior is a threat of any kind unless she was armed with a firearm and aiming it at officers. Quite clearly,the training modules allowing this kind of interaction is seriously flawed and needs to be expunged. The use of CEW's was never intended to be a force of compliance under all circumstances. They were designed to be used as an alternate "last resort" to deadly force under extremely limited circumstances. Police attitudes,especially,in the US,need a complete reset. Hiring and training criteria need an enema.

When was your last CEW training session ?

[Moosehead]

So, right before the officer with the camera shows up, I hear "Drop the knife!" shouted by the officers multiple times and then the tazer goes off... Rick is right - we don't know the context. Did she try to swing it at the officer? Did she threaten someone on the property? We don't know. Yes, it looks awful, but there are too many questions about this that can't be answered with a body cam video. I am not justifying anything these officers did - just making observations from what I can hear and see from the video. Clearly there is a language barrier, but a weapon was also involved by the sounds of it.

For what it's worth, my 82 year old mom is a wizard with a knife and an expert with a wooden spoon and when she tells me not to touch the cake until it's time for dessert, I listen.

[MikePal]

The other side of the story..at least more info:

[GuyJR]

These guys are idiots. That old woman was a threat to no one.

[MikePal]

Yea some training is needed: surely there are better ways for 3 cops to confront an 87 year old women holding a knife she was using as a trowel to pull up dandelions. They're lucky she didn't die from being Tazed....

[MarkB]

We don’t know what the initial call was.....don’t assume anything from a partial video.....

I agree.

But I know of other incidents ... and even this one ... there's like 4 cops on her ... holy smokes.

My point is ... I honestly think there are too many cops, and they are bored and looking for e to do.

[MikePal]

Well they dropped the charges...and her lawyer is going to sue ...A happy ending in "Merica" Haha.

Charges against the 87-year-old woman that was tased by a Chatsworth police officer have been dropped.

A letter from District Attorney Bert Poston to Chatsworth Police Chief Josh Etehridge detailed the sequence of events the led to the arrest of Martha Al-Bishara after a stun gun was used to subdue her. She had a knife in her hands according to police.

Family members said the elderly woman was cutting dandelions for a salad on the Boys and Girls Club's property.

In the letter, Poston also explains that Al-Bishara had been told by family members in her native Syrian language to not trespass on the private property.

Post said 'I find nothing inappropriate or unlawful about this use of force,' referring to the stun gun that was deployed on Al-Bishara.

When Channel 3 reached out to the Chatsworth police chief in August, he sent a statement saying in part, "the last thing any member of our department wanted to do was use a taser on an elderly female. However, when she began to walk towards the officer, from an elevated position with a knife, the officer used the most reasonable amount of force that he could at the time.”

Channel 3 reached out again on Wednesday, but Chief Josh Etheridge said the department's insurance company has advised him not to comment. However, he said he was made aware of the video being shared on Tuesday night.

Dean plans to file a lawsuit claiming excessive force was used in the arrest. He expects that lawsuit will be filed within the next two months, but he says Al-Bishara has no ill will against the officers. He says she loves the community she has lived in for the past 20 years.

[MikePal]

She won !!!

In the agreement, the city of Chatsworth is required to pay Martha Al-Bishara $150,000.
A settlement has been reached between an 87 year old woman & the city of Chatsworth, Georgia.

This is a copy of the agreement it says the city will pay Martha Al-Bishara $150,000 in full. Plus the city will provide body cameras for all patrol officer on duty.Al-Bishara's attorney, Jeff Dean says his client is glad to be out of the spotlight and hopes her story is a stepping stone for change.

"They are hoping this brings the community closer together and they hope to have a good relationship with the police force going forward," Dean added.

Oh and yes better Training is now required

"The city will also provide writing confirmation that the police department will reinforce the standard training for its officers on deescalation tactics and crisis intervention for mental health consumers

"We wanted to make it a point of emphasis -- that these were important classes -- that the officers needed and these were things that needed," attorney Jeff Dean says.

[smitty55]

Maybe the cops were afraid to get a scratch if they just walked up to her and took the knife a way, she obviously wasn't a threat of any kind. What a bunch of cowards, utterly disgusting.

[trimmer21]

When was your last CEW training session ?

OPP in-service training 1993 just before I went to the private sector. We were left with absolutely no doubt in use-of-force training that the exact same conditions must be met to use CEW that are required for deadly force because in some circumstances,they can result in sudden death. To this day,I'm told that it hasn't changed.