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.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
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.
-
How China is battling the chikungunya virusUnder The Radar Thousands of cases of the debilitating disease have been found in the country
-
Deep thoughts: AI shows its math chopsFeature Google's Gemini is the first AI system to win gold at the International Mathematical Olympiad
-
Book reviews: 'Face With Tears of Joy: A Natural History of Emoji' and 'Blood Harmony: The Everly Brothers Story'Feature The surprising history of emojis and the brother duo who changed pop music
-
Home Office worker accused of spiking mistress’s drink with abortion drugSpeed Read Darren Burke had failed to convince his girlfriend to terminate pregnancy
-
In hock to Moscow: exploring Germany’s woeful energy policySpeed Read Don’t expect Berlin to wean itself off Russian gas any time soon
-
Were Covid restrictions dropped too soon?Speed Read ‘Living with Covid’ is already proving problematic – just look at the travel chaos this week
-
Inclusive Britain: a new strategy for tackling racism in the UKSpeed Read Government has revealed action plan setting out 74 steps that ministers will take
-
Sandy Hook families vs. Remington: a small victory over the gunmakersSpeed Read Last week the families settled a lawsuit for $73m against the manufacturer
-
Farmers vs. walkers: the battle over ‘Britain’s green and pleasant land’Speed Read Updated Countryside Code tells farmers: ‘be nice, say hello, share the space’
-
Motherhood: why are we putting it off?Speed Read Stats show around 50% of women in England and Wales now don’t have children by 30
-
Anti-Semitism in America: a case of double standards?Speed Read Officials were strikingly reluctant to link Texas synagogue attack to anti-Semitism
