US police tase 87-year-old woman cutting dandelions

Police in the US state of Georgia are standing by an officer who turned his taser on an 87-year-old great-grandmother gathering dandelions.

On Friday, officers responded to a call from an employee of a kids’ club in Chatsworth, around 100 miles north of Atlanta, who expressed concern about a woman who appeared to be loitering outside the building with a knife.

The caller said that the woman was “walking around looking for something, like, vegetation to cut down or something”, adding: “She's old so she can't get around too well.”

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Chatsworth police chief Josh Etheridge and two officers arrived on the scene, where they found 87-year-old Martha Al-Bishara cutting dandelions on a patch of grass opposite her home, intending to use them in a salad.

The officers ordered her to put down her weapon - a kitchen knife - and raise her hands in the air.

However, Al-Bashara, who immigrated to the US from Syria, does not speak English.

Etheridge says he then attempted to mime the order using his own pocket knife. When she still failed to comply, one of the other officers fired his taser to bring her to the ground.

She was taken to hospital, where relatives say she is recovering but “sore”, as well as extremely distressed by the incident.

The police chief maintains that the officer reacted according to procedure for dealing with armed and non-compliant suspects.

“An 87-year-old woman with a knife still has the ability to hurt an officer,” Chatsworth Police Chief Josh Etheridge told the local Daily Citizen-News.

“In my opinion, it was the lowest use of force we could have used to simply stop that threat at the time.”

However, Al-Bishara’s grand-nephew Solomon Douhne told local news channel WSB-TV that, as a former police officer himself, he believes the officers involved should have employed more common sense.

“If three police officers couldn’t handle an 87-year-old woman, you might want to reconsider hanging up your badge,” he said.