Legal News

Cops Say Granny's Knife Threats Made Them Taser Her

By Matthew Heller, Editor

Three Oklahoma police officers accused of unlawfully zapping an ailing 86-year-old grandmother with a Taser are claiming they reacted reasonably to the threat presented by a knife-wielding, profanity-spewing woman who was rising from her sickbed to confront them.

Lona Varner

Lona Varner sued the El Reno, Okla., officers in June 2010 for subjecting her to excessive force by repeatedly tasering her while she was in her bed and tethered to an oxygen tank. They had gone to her apartment on Dec. 22, 2009 after her grandson suggested in a 911 call that she was suicidal.

?[S]he?s said she?s ... her life is over. She wants to end it and she?s taking some medicine ? I don?t know what she?s taking,? Lonnie Tinsley reported.

Varner might appear to be a textbook victim of police Taser abuse. But the officers say the case should not go to trial because they only tasered her after she repeatedly ignored their commands to drop the kitchen knife she had taken from under her pillow.

After Officer Thomas Duran fired an initial Taser round, Officer Joseph Sandberg had to fire three more rounds to get the knife out of Varner's hand. The officers ?used only the force necessary to react to Ms. Varner?s threatening words and actions and her refusal to comply with directions to drop the knife,? they say in a motion for summary dismissal.

Varner has testified she did not threaten the officers and the electric shock from Duran's Taser round ?made it impossible for me to open or close the hand with which I was holding the knife.? Her use-of-force expert has concluded that Sandberg ?unnecessarily? tasered her.

"[As] an 86-year-old woman, in marginal health, and taking several prescription[ ] medications daily,? David A. Dusenbury said in a report, Varner ?would not, even armed with a kitchen paring type knife, present a significant threat to any reasonably fit, properly trained, police officer exercising sound judgment.?

The case could be an important test of where the limits are on police use of Tasers. Several courts have recently concluded that police officers were immune from liability because the law regarding Tasers is not ?clearly established.?

?The question in the present case would be[,] what crime had Lona Varner committed when the police burst into her apartment?? Varner's lawyers say in a brief.

Police records show two 911 calls preceded the officers' arrival at Varner's apartment ? one from her home health care provider and the other, two minutes later, from Tinsley. According to Tinsley, he requested only that paramedics ?come check her out,? but police say Officer Duran was dispatched ?in reference to a suicidal subject? who had taken an overdose of medication.

After bringing the knife out, police say, Varner threatened Duran, saying ?she 'killed four japs in World War II and [she] would not bat an eye killing [him].'? Duran ?took Ms. Varner?s threats very seriously? and called for backup.

At least three other officers responded to the scene. After they ?had exhausted attempts at verbally getting Ms. Varner to comply,? Duran deployed his Taser but ?[s]ince both prongs did not strike Ms. Varner, the Taser was ineffective and did not affect Ms. Varner,? the summary judgment motion says.

According to the police, Varner still had not let go of the knife when Officer Sandberg fired his second and third rounds. At one point, she even ?looked right at Sandberg and said, 'You mother fucker!' and she started to rise from the bed with the knife still in an above the shoulder ready to stab position.?

?The actions of the officers were objectively reasonable and did not violate any clearly established rights,? their lawyer, David W. Lee of Oklahoma City, argues.

But there do appear to be enough ?genuine issues of material fact? for the case to go to a jury. Among other things,

• Did the first Taser round really have no effect on Varner or was she left unable to ?do anything? with her hand?

• Should the officers have requested the assistance of mental health professionals to negotiate with Varner?

• Was it reasonable to use a Taser against a bedridden octogenarian? As Dusenbury notes, ?The use of the Taser on [Varner] had the risk of killing her.?

By Matthew Heller
On Point

Full post as published by On Point News on February 24, 2011 (boomark / email).