Taser Assaults
May 11, 2009
Deputy Tasers 72 year old woman during traffic stop
AUSTIN, Texas – She dared a deputy constable to shock her with a Taser. So, he did.
Video released by a Travis County Constable's Office shows Deputy Chris Bieze confronting 72-year-old Kathryn Winkfein after stopping her for speeding on May 11 just outside Austin.
Kathryn Winkfein says she drives to Austin about twice a month to do her shopping. But on a Monday afternoon, a Travis County Constable deputy pulled her over, on her way back to Granite Schoals.
"Due to being a construction zone, and workers being present," Pct. 3 Constable Richard McCain said, "it was 45, she was doing 60."
Winkfein admits she was speeding in the dangerous strip of Highway 71 and Bee Creek.
"He explained to her," Constable McCain said, "sign the ticket stub, it's not an admission of guilt. It's a promise to appear in court. She didn't want to. She said take me to jail."
That's when the officer says Winkfein exited her vehicle and didn't cooperate.
Video from a camera mounted in the deputy's car shows Winkfein cursing and challenging the deputy and even daring him to use the Taser on her.
"You're going to shove me? You're going to shove a 72-year-old woman?" she yelled.
"She refused to get off the side of the road, he said to her, Ma'am, you're under arrest. She used profanity," the Constable said. He adds she got violent, and the officer used a taser on her.
Winkfein showed FOX 7 her taser scars.
"Here and here. Two places, side by side. It's unreal. It's like an electric shock," she said.
A shock Winkfein believes she didn't deserve.
"I wasn't argumentative, I was not combative. This is a lie. All of this is a lie, pulled away from him I did not," she said, reading the arrest affidavit.
The great-grandmother was taken to the Travis County Jail, where she was booked for resisting arrest and detention. She was released shortly after. Now, Winkfein has hired attorneys to protect her rights.
When asked if it was appropriate for the arresting officer to have used a taser, Constable McCain answered yes.
CanWest News Service; Vancouver Province
Published: Friday, November 16 2007
VANCOUVER -- Four Mounties involved in the Taser death of a Polish immigrant appear to have broken the rules of how the weapon should be used.
A 2005 report by the B.C. police complaint commissioner listed a number of key safety recommendations for the use of a Taser.
A video of the Tasering of Robert Dziekanski on Oct. 14 at the Vancouver International Airport suggest they were not followed.
Chief among the recommendations were:
- Tasers should be used only against a subject who is actively resisting arrest or posing a risk to others, not someone who is "passively resisting."
In this case, Dziekanski, who did not speak English, appeared not to be resisting and there were no other people in the area who could be hurt by his actions.
- Officers should avoid shocking a subject multiple times.
Dziekanski was shocked twice within a matter of seconds.
- Following a Taser shock, a subject should be restrained in a way that allows him to breathe easily.
At one point four officers were on top of Dziekanski. Two officers knelt with their full weight on his neck and back.
The Taser Technology Review Final Report states "subjects who struggle with police are almost always restrained in a face-down position. If subjects are pinned down with a great deal of weight placed on their shoulders and back for a long period of time, it may hamper their ability to breathe rapidly enough."
