This Exists? Grandson Alleges That Police Tazed His Grandmother. Twice.

A catch-phrase is re-born?

An 86 year-old Oklahoma woman and her grandson have filed suit against El Reno police, who they say tazed the ailing granny simply because she asked them to leave. According to the complaint, Officer Thomas Duran ordered Lona Varner to be tazed, as grandson Lonnie Tinsley protested, “Don’t taze my granny!”

The complaint gets weirder, as does the police version of the story.

Varner’s complaint alleges that police stepped on her oxygen tube to cut off her air supply, then tazed her twice as they cuffed and stuffed her grandson.

Police were responding to this 911 call, in which Lonnie fears his grandmother may have taken something. Adding to the weirdness is the operator’s Comedy Central-esque greeting of “El Reno 911…”:

According to Officer Duran, though, Varner produced a kitchen knife from under her pillow, and threatened to kill him:

The officer reported she took “a more aggressive posture on the bed” when other officers arrived. He reported she raised the knife above her head and said, “If you come any closer, you’re getting the knife.” He reported he feared she would injure someone.

This naturally begs the question of exactly how broad the spectrum of aggressive hospital bed granny-stances is. Duran also quotes Varner as having  bragged, “I killed four Japs in World War II and would not bat an eye killing you.”

Taking both stories into account, it’s hard to believe that police had no option but to taze Varner (twice), and a case like this bolsters critics of weapons like the Tazer, which were conceived as replacements for deadly force, but have become weapons of first resort.

The cocktail of killer granny, Taser-happy cops, and familiar-sounding catchphrase has summer shark-week filler written all over it. Look for this story to graduate to the cable airwaves in short order.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.