Why do the police use tasers when there is no reason on God’s green earth in many cases to electrify some poor helpless soul like this woman? Here’s my answer: Because an instrument of torture is a terrible thing to waste:
When Lonnie Tinsley of El Reno, Oklahoma, called 911 to ask for medical assistance for his disabled, bed-ridden grandmother, he couldn’t have dreamed it would end with police tasering the 86-year-old woman twice, stepping on her oxygen hose until she couldn’t breathe, and sending her to a psychiatric hospital for six days.
You see Lonnie called 911 thinking an ambulance would be sent with EMT personnel to take care of his 86 year old grandmother. Instead, at least 10 El Reno police officers arrived at his Lona Tinsley door and pushed their way into her home. Here’s what “allegedly” happened next:
At that point, 86-year-old Lona Varner told police to “get out of her apartment.” That’s when officer Thomas Duran, described in the lawsuit as the “leader” of the police unit, allegedly told another officer to “taser her.”
When Tinsley responded “Don’t tase my granny!” the officers threatened to taser him instead, the lawsuit states.
In his police report, officer Durgan asserted that Varner “took a more aggressive posture in her bed,” evidently causing him to fear for his and his officers’ lives.
Police then handcuffed Tinsley and took him to a waiting squad car. They released him without charge some time later. Meanwhile, the lawsuit alleges, officers “stepped on [Varner’s] oxygen hose until she began to suffer oxygen deprivation.”
Officers then fired a taser at her, hitting her twice, causing her to pass out, the lawsuit states.
At the direction of El Reno police, Varner was sent to the psychiatric ward of St. Anthony’s Hospital in Oklahoma City, where she was held for six days.
So, Lonnie gets arrested but not charged for asking police not to taser his grandmother. The grandmother is deprived of oxygen (allegedly) and then tasered (police admit this happened) and then sent to a psychatric hospital for six days. Makes me wonder if calling 911 is a safe thing to do in some of these small towns.
Here’s a picture of this Lona Varner, the 86 year old woman whom police have claimed at various times was allegedly suicidal and threatened them with a kitchen knife she had conveniently stashed under her pillow, presumably for protection from police officers she asked to remove themselves from her apartment:
As you can see she is an elderly white woman connected to a breathing tube.
Here’s where you can view a copy of the civil complaint filed by Lona Varner and Lonnie Tinsley against El Reno and various police officers. Here’s the copy of the police report filed by Officer Duran of the El Reno Police on December 22, 2009 which makes the claim that he feared for his life and the lives of Mrs. Varner, her grandson and all the other officers who entered her apartment, justifying the use of a taser on a bedridden woman connected to an oxygen tank.
Dallas.Org: El Reno Police – Report on Lona Varner
Let’s assume for a moment that Officer Duran is even remotely accurate in his description of events. Do you believe that he was justified in tasering an obviously old and frail woman who did not get out of bed, and was using oxygen to assist her breathing. In his report he reportedly repeatedly told the grandson not to approach Ms. Varner. In short he did not allow the grandson to talk the grandmother down by his own admission.
Instead of removing himself from the scene or trying to talk Ms Varner from injuring herself or her grandson (and there is no indication in his report that the grandson was being threatened in any way by Ms. Varner), he called for more police officers and escalated the situation. He then, safely out of harm’s way, threatened Mrs Varner with the use of his taser.
Let’s stop right there. He had a old woman on oxygen and he was threatening to shock her with thousands of volts of electricity. Did he ever consider the possibility that the electricity might kill the woman? He had no medical personnel on hand in the event her heart stopped. He could see that his confrontational approach was not working. Why make threats of imminent harm? Why not back away and let the situation cool off? Why not allow the Lonnie Tinsley, her grandson to attempt an intervention to remove the alleged knife she was wielding? Furthermore, Ms. Tinsley, despite the alleged threats made against the police was also never charged with a crime.
It should be noted that Mr. Tinsley’s report of that evening’s events differs sharply with Officer Durran in a number of respects, including the number of officers involved and the threat Duran allegedly made to taser Tinsley for imploring the police to “Don’t taser my granny!” Officer Duran’s report also fails to mention that Tinsley was arrested, handcuffed and then released later without charges, a rather startling omission.
Here’s the report in NewsOK (a site “powered by the Oklahoman) which includes the original 911 call made by Tinsley. In it Tinsley describes his grandmother as out of it, and having possibly taken medication possibly in a suicide attempt. There is nothing in that call that indicates the need for police help. Tinsley’s voice is calm as he requests medical attention for his grandmother.
Here is some further information regarding the injuries sustained by Lona Varner as a result of the police tasering her and taking her into custody:
Police went to the apartment Dec. 22 after her grandson called 911 for a paramedic to check on her. “She says … her life is over. She wants to end it. … She’s taken some medicine. I don’t know what she’s taken,” Tinsley said in the 911 call. “I can’t get her to tell me what she took. … She’s kind of upset and everything else.”
Varner’s attorney, Brian Dell of Oklahoma City, said police acted inappropriately and could have killed her with the Taser shock. He said she was never charged.
He said Varner has had a series of health problems, including strokes. She uses an oxygen machine to help her breathing and can barely walk by herself. She uses an electric cart to get around and can see out of only one eye.
He said she was in a hospital-type bed when she was shocked.
“Even if you reasonably believe someone’s going to commit suicide, do you Taser them?” the attorney asked.
He said police ripped the skin of her arms when they grabbed her. “She’s an old lady,” he said. “Her skin is like tissue paper.”
The lawsuit said she was taken first to an El Reno hospital where she was treated for the burns to her chest and the torn flesh on her arms. The lawsuit alleges she was placed on Dec. 23 in the psychiatric ward of an Oklahoma City hospital at the direction of the El Reno police. She was held in the psychiatric ward for six days. [,,,]
The lawsuit alleges as many as 10 police officers pushed their way into the apartment after the grandson called 911. The police first stepped on her oxygen hose “until she began to suffer oxygen deprivation,” and then police fired a Taser at her, striking her with only one prong, according to the lawsuit.
“The police then fired a second Taser, striking her to the right and left of the midline of her upper chest and applied high voltage, causing burns to her chest, extreme pain and to pass out,” attorneys alleged in the lawsuit. “The police then grabbed Ms. Varner by her forearms and jerked hands together, causing her soft flesh to tear and bleed on her bed; they then handcuffed her.”
The grandson also was handcuffed and placed in a police car when he protested police attempts to Taser his grandmother, the attorneys alleged. He was freed to go with his grandmother in an ambulance to the El Reno hospital.
Questions:
Why were the police sent rather than a paramedic trained to deal with potential suicidal individuals and also with the health problems of 80 plus year old individuals?
Why did the police report indicate she was tasered once when her attorney claims she was tasered twice?
Why does the police report make no mention of the burn to her chest?
Why the discrepancy in the police report and Mr. Tinsley’s account regarding the number of officers involved in this incident?
Did any police officer, including Officer Duran, ask Tinsleyb about Ms. Varner’s medical history of strokes her need for oxygen, and her limited ability to even walk unassisted?
Why did the police feel the need to use a taser to subdue Ms. Varner at all when confronted with such a frail individual who may have been mouthing off at the police but was highly unlikely to back up her threats to “kill them” (assuming she actually made such threats)?
Oh and by the way, this is the same police department that shocked a motorist while he was going into a diabetic shock.
El Reno police last faced controversy over using a Taser in November 2008 when an uncooperative driver was shocked after a crash. The police chief said later officers had no way of knowing the driver was in diabetic shock. A video of the 2008 incident was widely circulated on the Internet.
Here’s the video of that incident:
You see they thought he was drunk or under the influence of drugs and because he wasn’t following their orders quickly enough for their liking. they felt the right to tase him despite no evidence that her posed a threat to the officers.
So who do you think is credible regarding the incident where Lona Varner, a bedridden invalid, was tasered by the El Reno police? Maybe the El Reno police department should have their tasers taken away until they can learn when it is appropriate to use potentially deadly force on individuals that pose a real likelihood of imminent danger. Instead of grandmothers on oxygen lying in bed, or motorists in diabetic shock.
As for the rest of us, I recommend staying as far away from El Reno Oklahoma as much as humanly possible.
