NOT THE SHARPEST KNIVES IN THE DRAWER: Bedridden Octogenarian Granny Tased By Cops “Fearful For Their Safety”
Lona Varner, 86, who is confined to bed and tethered to a portable oxygen concentrator, was unable to tell her grandson, Lonnie Tinsley, whether she had been taking her meds when he checked in on her on December 22, 2009, so he called 9-1-1 "to ask for an emergency medical technician to come to her apartment to evaluate her."
Instead of the paramedics he was expecting, at least 10 El Reno, OK, police officers "pushed their way through the door," says Tinsley. What happened next is the basis of a lawsuit against the city and the police officers that alleges violations of Varner’s and Tinsley’s Constitutional rights, wrongful arrest and detention and infliction of emotional distress.
Seeing the horde in her bedroom, an understandably agitated Varner demanded they get out of her apartment, whereupon Police Officer Thomas Duran ordered another officer to subdue her with a Taser (Duran justified the order in his report by noting that she had taken “a more aggressive posture in her bed” and that he feared for his safety and that of the other officers).
An alarmed Tinsley shouted "Don't Tase my granny!" After threatening to Tase him, the police yanked him out of the apartment, wrestled him to the ground, slapped cuffs on him and shoved him in the back of a squad car.
Turning their attention back to Varner, the police “stepped on her oxygen hose until she began to suffer oxygen deprivation.” For unknown reasons, the police apparently believed Varner was still a danger to them, because an officer trained his Taser on her and shot her. The electrodes didn’t make solid contact, so a second officer shot her in the chest, “and applied high voltage, causing burns to her chest [and] extreme pain. Varner lost consciousness, then several officers “grabbed” her forearms and “jerked” her hands together, “causing her soft flesh to tear and bleed on her bed” and handcuffed her.
The police then “freed Lonnie Tinsley from his incarceration in the back of the police car and permitted him to accompany the ambulance with his grandmother.”
After doctors at Parkland Hospital in El Reno treated her injuries, the police had her transferred to the psychiatric ward of St. Anthony’s Hospital in Oklahoma City where was held for six days.
In the lawsuit Varner says she suffered “bodily injury, assault, battery, the trashing of her apartment, humiliation, loss of personal dignity, infliction of emotional distress and medical bills.” Her grandson says he suffered “assault, battery, humiliation, lost of person dignity, negligent infliction of emotional distress by witnessing the physical abuse of his grandmother and intentional infliction of emotional distress.”
The Stiletto would also like to point out that three months before this incident, Taser International issued new targeting guidelines to law enforcement agencies instructing officers to avoid aiming the electrodes at the chest, because the closer the probes get to the heart the higher the risk that a susceptible individual could suffer a fatal arrhythmia that triggers sudden cardiac arrest, causing pesky legal issues. The guidelines advised instead aiming for the lower torso.
In addition, Taser International specifically instructs officers not to use the devise around flammable liquids or fumes – for instance, when raiding a meth lab – so using the devise around Varner’s oxygen concentrator could have conceivably ignited a fatal fire or explosion.
I still cannot believe that they did that. Totally absurd. What exactly does an "aggressive posture" look like if the poor old women was lying down? On top of tazing her, they stepped on her Portable Oxygen Concentrator? They should be charged with attempted murder! Stepping on her oxygen supply is tantamount to choking her. I can only hope that these megalomaniacs face swift justice.
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