70-year-old woman cuffed, arrested, bloodied for not watering lawn

[Friday]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/19/lawn.dispute.ap/index.html

OREM, Utah (AP) -- A 70-year-old woman arrested in a dispute over her brown lawn pleaded not guilty Tuesday, then stood by as a Los Angeles lawyer waved handcuffs for the cameras outside court.

Betty Perry is charged with resisting arrest and failing to maintain her landscaping, both misdemeanors.

She was arrested July 6 after failing to give her name to a police officer who visited her home.

During a struggle, Perry fell and injured her nose. She spent more than an hour in a holding cell before police released her.

"I ask the citizens of Orem: How many of you would like to have your great-grandmother taken from her home with bruises and blood and placed in handcuffs for failing to water her lawn?" attorney Gloria Allred said.

"Let's bring sanity back to law enforcement," she said.

The mayor and City Council apologized, and the police department said the situation could have been handled differently. But the city attorney still is pressing charges, and Perry is due back in court next month.

A state investigation found that Officer James Flygare acted properly in arresting Perry after trying to get her to cooperate.

Perry's water had been turned off for about nine months, at her request, although she was living at the house at the time of the arrest. Orem has a shutoff policy for people who are away for extended periods. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[LiveFree]

Wow.  They must not have any real crime to go after.  So how exactly do they justify their "authority" to force one to maintain landscaping on private property?

[Lasse]

http://newhampshireunderground.com/forum/index.php?topic=10894.0
http://www.generalcourt.org/bills/2007/HB76-FN

(b) Assure for all residents of the state safe, healthful, productive, and esthetically and culturally pleasing surroundings.

Kalifornia insanity may pass in NH too.

[mvpel]

Hey look!  No Taser involved!

Turns out gooncops are gooncops no matter what tools they have at their disposal.

[d_goddard]

gooncops are gooncops

Please, let's a little sensitive to our public servants.
Can we all agree to use a less emotionally-charged term?




Personally, I prefer "pigs"

[Jared]

grandma should've kicked some ass with her weedwhacker! don't eff with grandma!

[lildog]

The really sad thing here is that it would most likely have taken less effort and time on the part of the police and for that matter cost the tax payer less for them to simply have walked over to her hose and turned on a sprinkler for her.