Police officers dispatched to check on the health of an El Reno woman stepped on the 86 year old's oxygen hose, tasered her and handcuffed her in bed, according to a lawsuit the woman and her grandson filed last week in U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City.
The lawsuit, filed by Lona M. Varner and Lonnie D. Tinsley, seeks punitive damages for alleged constitutional rights violations from the City of El Reno, police officers Thomas Duran, Frank Tinga and Joseph Sandberg, as well as 10 other unnamed police officers, according to Courthouse News Service.
On Dec. 22, 2009, Varner was in a "hospital-type bed" in her El Reno apartment as a winter storm approached. Tinsley came to check on his grandmother and couldn't determine what medications she had taken, according to the suit. Worried by Varner's "marginal health," Tinsley called 911 and asked for paramedics to assist.
"As many as 10 El Reno police" officers, including Duran, Tinga and Sandberg, responded and "pushed their way through" her apartment door, the lawsuit alleges. Varner told the officers to leave, but an officer instructed another policeman to "taser her!"
"Don't taze my Granny!," Tinsley told police, the lawsuit alleges. The officers later approached Varner's bed, stepped on her hose and twice fired tasers at her, burning her chest and causing her to pass out. The officers then grabbed Varner by her forearms and handcuffed her, which caused "her soft flesh to tear."
Police records report that tasers were used after Varner "took a more aggressive posture in bed," according to the lawsuit.
A police report said that Varner threatened to harm officers with a knife, according to KOCO-TV.
"If you try and get the knife, I will stab you and kill you," Varner said, according to the report. "I killed four Japs in World War II and I would not bat an eye killing you."
Paramedics took Varner to the hospital to treat her injuries. Later, she was transferred to another hospital's psychiatric unit, where she was held for six days before being released, according to the suit.
