Police Officer Tases Great Grandmother
A police officer used a Taser on a 72-year-old during a speeding stop.
June 10, 2009 — -- A feisty 72-year-old great- grandmother was tasered after a police officer pulled her over for speeding. The Travis County, Texas dashboard camera captured the altercation between officer Chris Bieze and Kathryn Winkfein that happened last month.
Bieze said Winkfein was physically "non-complaint" after he pulled her over for driving 60 mph in a 45 mph speed zone on her way to Austin, Texas.
What the DashCam Shows
The video, which was released this week, shows Winkfein refusing to sign her speeding ticket.
She then got out of her pick-up truck and then the confrontation got nastier.
"Give me the f--king ticket now," she said.
"Get over here now," Bieze replied.
Bieze then shoved the woman. He said it was to keep her out of traffic whizzing by.
"You're gonna shove me?! You're gonna shove a 72 year old woman," Winkfein said.
But Bieze would do more than just shove Winkfein.
"If you don't stand back, I'm gonna tase you," he tells Winkfein.
"Go ahead, taser me," Winkfein replied.
"Stand back or you're going to be tasered! Put your hand behind your back," Bieze warns Winkfein.
After warning Winkfein a half dozen times, Bieze makes good on all of those threats.
"Get on the ground! Get on the ground," Bieze can be heard yelling as Winkfein screams. "Now put your hands behind your back."
"Put your hands behind your back or you're going to be tased again," Bieze continued.
While, Winkfein was not seriously injured and was taken to jail, when she got out, she told reporters the officer made up lies in this police report.
"I was not argumentative. I was not combative. All of this is a lie. Every bit of this is a lie," Winkfein said.Then the tape was made public and the once-feisty great grandmother clammed up. Winkfein reportedly hired an attorney and she may need one. She was charged with resisting arrest.
But the officer isn't in a bit of trouble. His boss said he did everything by the book.
"My mother is 77. If she conducted herself in such a way, I'd say 'Mom, you don't argue with the police.' You just don't," said Sgt. Major Gary Griffin of the Travis County Constable's Office.