Granny Gets Tasered

Austin is in the national news for an unfortunate incident involving a woman who got tasered by a police officer after resisting arrest. This woman is 72 years old, as she pointed out several times. This fact gave her a dangerous sense of entitlement...

Here's the story: The dash cam video was rolling just after 2:00 p.m. on May 11 when Deputy Chris Bieze stopping the feisty Kathryn Winkfein for speeding on Hwy. 71, a notoriously dangerous road in Austin. Several people were killed on this hilly, winding road just last week; this occurred in a construction area with a clearly posted 45 mph speed limit. 

Apparently the officer hadn't read the memo that 72-year-old ladies are exempt from all traffic laws...

After completing the paperwork for the ticket, the dash cam showed the officer returning to Winkfein's truck, but Winkfein refused to sign the speeding ticket.

"Take me to jail? I'm a 72-year-old woman," said Winkfein on the tape.

The deputy then opened the driver side door to arrest the great-grandmother.

"Give me the (bleep) ticket now. Oh you're [going to] push me, a 72-year-old woman," said Winkfein on the tape.

Bieze replied, "Get over here...Now!"

On the tape, the officer shoved Winkfein. The Constable's Office said the shove served as a way to get both Bieze and Winkfein out of oncoming traffic.

"Give it to me and I'll sign it … give it to me and I'll sign it," she says, reaching for the ticket.

"Get over here now!" he screams, pushing her away from the roadway.

"You're gonna shove me? You're gonna shove a 72-year-old woman?" she replies.

(Police claim the officer pushed the angry 72-year old woman to get her away from passing traffic; he didn't explain why he pushed her away from the roadway, but the dash cam showing the woman right at the edge of the lanes of traffic supports his assertion.)

Deputy Beasey then warns he will use the Taser.

"(If ) you don't step back, you're going to be tased," he says.

"Go ahead, tase me! Hell, a 72-year-old woman," she replies.

"Get back, or you're going to be tasered," he repeats.

"I dare you," she says.

(Last Friday, Ms Winkfein insisted to reporters she had not put up any resistance prior to being tasered.)

"I wasn't arguing … all of this is a lie, every bit of this is a lie," she said.

(She seems to be a personal expert on lies...)

In the dash cam footage, Ms Winkfein clearly defies the officer.

"I'm getting back in my car," she says. 

(Watching this part of the footage, I figured she was going back to her car to get a gun...possibly the officer thought so, too)

Bieze is heard warning Winkfein, saying "Stand back, I'm [going to] tase you."

Winkfein: "You're going to tase a 72-year-old woman? Hell, I'm a 72-year-old woman!"
 

Officer Bieze is heard giving Winkfein no less than five warnings to stand back or else she would get tasered.

"Step back or you'll get tased," said Bieze.

Winkfein replied confidently, "I dare you!"

Before the video was released, Winkfein told her (purely fictional) side of the story, insisting that she "wasn't argumentative, I was not combative, OK? This is a lie, all of this is a lie. Pulled away from him, I did not," said Winkfein.

Winkfein hired an attorney and planned to get revenge, obviously based primarily on her age. Then the dash cam tape was released, and not surprisingly, she and her attorney have clammed up and declined all interview requests.

"There may be many viewers upset we deployed a taser but she made a very simple interaction with police a very difficult task," Sgt. Major. Gary Griffin, Texas Constable.

The sergeant pointed out that in this litigious society, if the deputy had not pushed the woman to the side of the road or tasered her to gain control of the situation, he could have faced a civil lawsuit for not preventing harm to the woman.

Well, gee whiz, everybody KNOWS that 72-year-old women drive soft fluffy cars that can't POSSIBLY hurt anyone, no matter how fast they're driven, especially though dangerous areas like Hwy.71. 

Why, she should be able to drive 72 miles per hour wherever she wants to, even though school zones, or through your living room for that matter, because SHE'S effing 72-YEARS OLD, and everybody KNOWS that 72-year-old women automatically deserve a big old get-out-of-jail-free card, and that 72-year-old-women don't have to sign traffic tickets if they don't want to, or comply with police officer's directions, or do anything else they don't want to do, because THEY'RE 72-YEARS OLD! 

And anyway, they can't possibly hurt anyone by speeding through a construction zone on a heavily-traveled, hilly, winding rural highway...

Seriously, how DARE this officer even STOP any 72-year old woman in the first place?! 

Why, he should be water-boarded at once, then drawn and quartered, his remains sued, and then fired! After all, this LOVELY woman warned the officer that she he was addressing a 72-year-old lady, but he insisted on treating her like anyone else, regardless of her age. 

And just because he warned her clearly, no less then 5 times, and just because she said "I DARE YOU!", that doesn't mean that a 72-year-old lady should be held accountable for her behavior the way an ordinary adult would be.....she should have been allowed to drive as fast as she wanted to, anywhere and anytime she chooses, because SHE'S FREAKING 72 YEARS OLD!

Seriously, thank goodness for the dash cam! 

As far is I'm concerned (and I'm getting pretty elderly myself), Kathyn Winkfein is a public menace who deserves everything she got. 

No WONDER her attorney wouldn't comment once the dash cam was released! And no wonder she hid and wouldn't open the door to the reporter she'd made an appointment with prior to the release of the tape. 

What a horrible example she set for the great-grandchildren she evoked during the confrontation. 

Personally, I hope she loses her license. She won't of course, but she really shouldn't be driving, since she is so certain that traffic and other laws don't apply to her because she's an effing 72 year old woman!