Police officer caught on video tasering pensioner for speeding... and he gets away with it
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 11:44 AM on 01st April 2010
A policeman who caused outrage by tasering a 72-year-old woman when he stopped her for speeding has been cleared by a grand jury.
The jury declined to charge Deputy Constable Christopher Bieze on a charge of injury to an elderly person.
The officer pulled Kathryn Winfein over in Austin, Texas, after she was caught doing 60mph in a 45mph zone.
He had written out a ticket but the great-grandmother then refused to sign it.
Scroll down to see the video...
Kathryn Winfein
The police officer takes hold of the 72-year-old woman he stopped for speeding in Texas and attempts to arrest her...
Taser
...but she appears to resist...
Taser
...so the officer fires his Taser gun at her
The officer can be seen opening her door to arrest her but she seems to resist and can be heard shouting and swearing at him, in footage caught on camera.
There is then a bit of shoving from both parties and the officer asks her to step back.
When she refuses, he threatens to shoot her with a Taser gun.
'Go ahead, tase me,' she shouts at him.
After apparently being warned five times, the officer can be seen pulling out the Taser and shooting her.
Winfein immediately collapses on the floor and as the officer walks up towards her she can be heard screaming while he shouts at her to put her hands on her back.
Texas police chiefs have defended the officers' actions, saying she was resisting arrest and being violent.
'I was not arguing and I was not combative. Everything in this is a lie,' Winfein had said before the video was released.
An internal investigation concluded Bieze did not violate any law or county policy and he was not disciplined.
However, District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg said Bieze was not blameless in the matter.
'While Deputy Constable Bieze may have followed the letter of the law, a more prudent use of discretion may have resulted in a different outcome,' she said in announcing the grand jury decision.
'In the end, they determined only that Bieze's actions were legal. However, their decision was not an endorsement of either party to this conflict.'
Travis County commissioners last year agreed to give Winkfein a $40,000 (£26,000) settlement after she filed a claim over the incident.
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