An 87-year-old grandmother is suing an Oklahoma police department for using a Taser gun on her while she lay in her bed.
Last December, police in El Reno, Oklahoma, went to Lona Varner's apartment after her grandson called 911 for a paramedic, saying Varner might be suicidal. According to Varner's attorney, she has had a series of health problems, including strokes, and uses an oxygen machine to help her breathe and can barely walk by herself, using an electric cart to get around.
The federal lawsuit alleges that as many as 10 police officers pushed their way into the apartment. After first stepping on her oxygen hose "until she began to suffer oxygen deprivation," the lawsuit goes on, she was Tasered.
Police acknowledge that they fired two Tasers at her, the second one "striking her to the right and left of the midline of her upper chest and applied high voltage, causing burns to her chest, extreme pain and to pass out," her attorneys allege in the lawsuit. "The police then grabbed Ms. Varner by her forearms and jerked hands together, causing her soft flesh to tear and bleed on her bed; they then handcuffed her," the suit states.
The grandson pleaded with officers, "Don't taze my Granny!" but also was handcuffed and placed in a police car, the attorneys say. He later was freed to accompany his grandmother in an ambulance to the hospital. The grandson is also a party to the lawsuit.
According to a police report, Varner pulled a kitchen knife from under her pillow and threatened to kill one of the officers if he tried to take the knife, but she apparently never got out of her bed.
"Even if you reasonably believe someone's going to commit suicide, do you Taser them?" Varner's attorney asked.
The lawsuit asks the city to pay Varner at least $75,000, in part to cover her $30,000 in medical bills stemming from the incident.
To read The Oklahoman's account of the incident and lawsuit, click here.
To read the lawsuit, click here.
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