70 Y.O. Woman Hit In Face, Arrested After Police Tried To Give Ticket For Not Watering Her Lawn

[matcom]

<snip>

While people across Utah are worrying about how to conserve water during the dry, hot summer, a 70-year-old Orem woman found herself bruised and jailed after a police officer tried to ticket her for not watering her lawn.

An Orem police officer assigned to a Neighborhood Preservation Unit stopped at Betty Perry's home, on 800 East near 1600 South, to talk to her about her lawn, which is dry, brown and studded with short weeds. The officer decided to give Perry a misdemeanor citation for her lawn and asked her name.

But the situation escalated when Perry refused to give the officer her name and said she wanted to call her son. The officer decided to place her under arrest, and while he was trying to handcuff her, she fell to the ground, hurting her elbow, knee and leg.

Perry said a spot of what appeared to be blood on her front door came from her fall. She said she went to Timpanogos Regional Hospital for X-rays after she was released from jail.

"I'm very distraught over all this. I can't believe this happened. Do you ever just wish you could start your day over and it would all be different?" Perry said.

Orem police spokesman Lt. Doug Edwards said the woman fell after she pulled away while the officer was trying to arrest her. He also said she rolled onto her stomach and put her hands underneath her body to keep the officer from handcuffing her.

Perry said she was accidentally hit in the face with a handcuff while the officer was trying to arrest her, giving her a fresh bruise on her nose.

http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/228029/4/

[Hugin]

1. And they don't see there's something very wrong here?

:eyes:

[jilln]

2. People who were defending the cops who arrested the skateboarders a few days ago should come comment

I'm curious to see what they have to say, since in both cases (in their minds) people committed a crime and resisted arrest. I want to see them defend the cops on this one too.

[Bassic]

18. Skateboarders?

I must have missed that thread. What was it about?

[jilln]

21. Here's the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH6AYVn2yw4

Basically, some kids were skateboarding, allegedly on a sidewalk where you're not supposed to. The cops choked some of them and were overly aggressive in general. From the video it looks like one kid ran away and then got caught and arrested but it's not clear to me that he was resisting arrest since the police were not paying him attention at that time.

Apparently during the commotion an "official" was bumped into and so a kid was charged with assault. Ignorant DUers who apparently couldn't read the article correctly were claiming that the "assault" was the cause for the arrests in the first place, and arguing that if you commit a crime (even something as innocuous as skateboarding on a sidewalk) you should expect whatever you get from the police and those skateboarders could have run someone over yada yada yada. Those DUers must never have driven even 1 mile over the speed limit, jaywalked or failed to stop completely at a stop sign.

[Danger Mouse]

24. It's just something is ingrained in a lot of people in our society (many of them DUer's)...

probably from our puritan ancestors...they like punishment for criminals, the harsher the better. Guilty till proven innocent, anything that happens to them is justified, make em suffer make em scream, and never ever ever forgive them for their crimes. Brand them for life, dammit! That's 'justice' in America.

[redqueen]

25. it's very sad.

"They must find it difficult...
Those who have taken authority as the truth,
rather than truth as the authority."

[Danger Mouse]

27. that's pretty much on the nose. it is very sad.

our society has a mentality of shitting on the disadvantaged...the poor, felons, people with bad credit ratings, the mentally ill. there are a lot of compassionate people out there, you and i included i'd like to think...but many (most) even on DU, are not like that.

[nini]

28. I don't like what I saw there.

but if those kids are anything like the ones by my house who block the street and do not respect anyone's property I can see how that escalated.

I'm glad they have skateboarding parks around here so the kids can ride safely and not use people's walls etc.. for ramps - but some kids refuse to conform and use them.

[Writer]

3. I asked this in Breaking News... but isn't a dry, brown lawn a fire hazard?

Just wondering...

[noamnety]

4. Running the already low water supply down

also creates a fire hazard - they need water pressure to fight fires.

This is a good reason to plant grasses that are native to the area and require less water (the typical amount you'd get in a season in your area), rather than the more common turf grasses which are an environmental obscenity.

[Writer]

5. Great, but... that didn't answer my question.

Are these laws in effect to prevent fire hazards?

[ThomCat]

10. I doubt it.

I think the law requiring lawns in the desert was put there for purely aesthetic and marketing reasons. It's easier for the local realtors to sell property if there are lawns.

Look for the money motive. All things being equal, it's usually money that makes the decisions.

Requiring people to maintain a lawn in a desert area also restricts the area to higher income people. They have to be able to afford the maintenance that a lawn would require in that area.

[Writer]

11. Hrmmm... there's a few folks down the road I worry about a bit.

Light a match, and we're all in trouble. :(

On edit: Why does this have to be placed into a political-economist framework? It just seems like a safety issue.

[noamnety]

16. It is a political-ENVIRONMENTALIST issue

Good stewardship of the land follows some basic principles.

Conserve resources
Support local ecosystems
Generally do no harm.

Watered turf grasses follow none of those principles. Communities that require them force people into habits that destroy, rather than repair, the environment.

[SacredCow]

20. Have to keep in mind that this is Orem, Utah....

LOTS of Mo-Mo's around, and they are the ultimate conformists and busybodies.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

12. Isn't a watered lawn a flood hazard?

"Are these laws in effect to prevent fire hazards?"

No, the laws are in effect for snobbery and property value purposes.

This woman's lawn wasn't dried grass, it was dried dust.

[Writer]

14. Some food for thought:

I found this on a google search:

http://www.vvwater.org/guide/firehazard.htm

[ThomCat]

7. I'd love to see some alternative yards become common.

Something other than grass.

I've seen some rock garden yards that were stunning. Stone paths with shaded benches and a yard sculpture of some kind. Low-water shrubs. Anything other than just grass.

[Writer]

8. There's a house down the road that is xeriscaped.

He planned it well and I think it looks very nice.

Another house also down the road attempted the same look but didn't plan it well. All the rock is now filled with weeds. It looks atrocious.

If you xeriscape, plan it well, folks!

[WindRavenX]

6. It's a desert people!

My god this state is full of retards.

[matcom]

9. i TRIED to tell you!

but would YOU listen?

NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooo

[WindRavenX]

13. at least it's funny

the Cindy V Pelosi threads in GD...not so much. :hide:

[matcom]

15. GD is the Utah of DU

:D

[Bassic]

17. She was arrested for not watering her lawn?

What the fuck? What the fuck is wrong with that cop?

[jilln]

22. I suspect it was more because she would not give her name

which I believe is always a crime now.

[Bassic]

29. Which is also stupid beyond all recognition. nt

[Roon]

19. My Grandfather replaced our front lawn with rock

Problem solved...my backyard has a concrete pad and my Grandparent's back yard is a postage stamp of grass.

[Elidor]

23. You can't let these grannies get uppity

We all know how they can get. You gotta nip it in the bud with a beatdown. Protect and serve, brotha!

[baldguy]

26. Imagine: gangs of roving grannies terrorizing communities!

Senile Delinquents!

[MiserableFailure]

30. A lot of pigs are people who couldn't cut it in our nation's military

I generally have no respect for pigs because I feel that most only join the force to gain power over others.