Oklahoma cop Tases 65-year-old who fled and fought over $80 ticket, video shows
An Oklahoma cop tried to get a driver to sign an $80 ticket for a broken tail light this month, but the driver refused — and body camera footage obtained by TV station KOCO captured the aggressive, startling scene that unfolded next.
“I don’t think that I deserve to pay $80 for something that is fixable — and I can fix it, if that’s all you want me to do,” 65-year-old driver Debra Hamil told a Cashion, Oklahoma, police officer in the video, which was recorded during a July 16 incident, according to court records.
That’s when the officer tried to arrest Hamil.
“All right, go ahead and step out of the car,” the officer tells her, “because you’re under arrest.”
“No, I’m not,” Hamil responds, rolling up her window. “You be fair with me, and I’ll be fair with you.”
Hamil tells the office he’s “full of s--t” and then drives off in her pickup, video shows.
Eventually the officer catches up with Hamil’s pickup and approaches it with his gun drawn, video shows.
“Get out of the car,” the officer yells, sirens blaring in the background.
Hamil opens her door and says “you better leave me” before breaking off, struggling with the officer and being pulled to the ground, video shows.
The officer tells her to put her hands behind her back.
“Leave me alone,” she screams.
At that point, the officer shoots her with a Taser and again tells her to put her hands behind her back.
“Do you realize you just got yourself in a whole lot more trouble?” an officer asks the woman as she lays on the ground on her stomach, her arms handcuffed behind her back.
“Oh, I didn’t run,” she responds. “I told you you weren’t going to arrest me.”
The officer tells her an ambulance is on the way. Hamil was taken to the emergency room, KOCO reported.
She was arrested and later released on $10,000 bond, the Kingfisher Times & Free Press reports.
Cashion police did not immediately respond to McClatchy news group’s request for comment on the incident on Tuesday afternoon, but Oklahoma state court records said Hamil appeared in court on July 17 facing a felony charge of assaulting a policy officer and a misdemeanor charge of resisting an officer.
Charges filed in Kingfisher County court accuse Hamil of “willfully and unlawfully kicking” the officer “on or about the groin” and of “failing to follow the lawful commands” of a police officer.
The felony battery charge is punishable with up to five years in prison, while the misdemeanor charge of resisting an officer is punishable with up to one year in prison, court records said.
Hamil is set to appear in court next in August, court records said.
The Cashion body camera video KOCO posted on Facebook has been viewed more than 2 million times.
This story was originally published July 30, 2019 at 4:35 PM with the headline "Oklahoma cop Tases 65-year-old who fled and fought over $80 ticket, video shows."
