GodSaveTheTsar
Member
"A grandmother was Tasered by police officers as she reportedly cut dandelions in a garden.
Martha Al-Bishara, 87, said she was gardening with a kitchen knife at a youth club near her home on Friday when police received a call saying she was trespassing.
Officers in rural Georgia, US, arrived and ordered the pensioner to drop the knife but as she doesn’t speak English, she didn’t do so.
Martha Al-Bishara was taken to hospital after the incident. The Syrian immigrant was then arrested and taken to hospital to have treatment for her injuries.
‘She’s recovering, you know. Still a little sore from what she’s gone through,’ her nephew Solomon Douhne told WSB-TV.
The former police officer added: ‘Less-lethal force is the practice that we normally follow, but in this case, you know, if you could tell the communication wasn’t working, she was not posing a threat, give it time, let it play out.
‘She just brought the knife onto the property in her hand. She didn’t try to attack anybody or anything.
Al-Bishara was charged with criminal trespass and obstructing an officer Friday when police held her at gunpoint before bringing her to the ground with a jolt from the electrified prongs of a stun gun. Officers used the taser on Al-Bishara when she didn't obey commands to drop a knife in her hand. Relatives said Al-Bishara does't speak English and was merely cutting out dandelions with a kitchen knife near her home in Chatsworth.
Martha was charged with criminal trespass and obstructing an officer.
‘She really didn’t know what was going on or why they were there. She had no clue what to expect.
‘If three police officers couldn’t handle an 87-year-old woman, you might want to consider hanging up your badge.’"
Martha Al-Bishara, 87, said she was gardening with a kitchen knife at a youth club near her home on Friday when police received a call saying she was trespassing.
Officers in rural Georgia, US, arrived and ordered the pensioner to drop the knife but as she doesn’t speak English, she didn’t do so.
Martha Al-Bishara was taken to hospital after the incident. The Syrian immigrant was then arrested and taken to hospital to have treatment for her injuries.
‘She’s recovering, you know. Still a little sore from what she’s gone through,’ her nephew Solomon Douhne told WSB-TV.
The former police officer added: ‘Less-lethal force is the practice that we normally follow, but in this case, you know, if you could tell the communication wasn’t working, she was not posing a threat, give it time, let it play out.
‘She just brought the knife onto the property in her hand. She didn’t try to attack anybody or anything.
Al-Bishara was charged with criminal trespass and obstructing an officer Friday when police held her at gunpoint before bringing her to the ground with a jolt from the electrified prongs of a stun gun. Officers used the taser on Al-Bishara when she didn't obey commands to drop a knife in her hand. Relatives said Al-Bishara does't speak English and was merely cutting out dandelions with a kitchen knife near her home in Chatsworth.
Martha was charged with criminal trespass and obstructing an officer.
‘She really didn’t know what was going on or why they were there. She had no clue what to expect.
‘If three police officers couldn’t handle an 87-year-old woman, you might want to consider hanging up your badge.’"