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Subscribe to RSSDash cam video shows a police officer dragging a 77-year-old woman out of her vehicle after she refused to show a driver's license during a routine traffic stop in Keene, Texas. TODAY's Natalie Morales reports.
A local Texas police department is standing by an officer who dragged a 77-year-old grandmother out of her car for speeding after she repeatedly refused to provide her driver's license.
The entire arrest was caught on video by the Keene Police Department.
The woman, Lynn Bedford, of nearby Cleburne, was stopped on Aug. 19 for driving 66 mph in a 50-mph zone.
Bedford told Sgt. Gene Geheb that she had a bladder infection and had to go to the bathroom, but the situation quickly escalated when the officer asked several times for her identification and she refused.
"Just hurry up; I have to go to the bathroom," she said.
"Let me see your driver's license and insurance, please," the officer asked.
She declined several times.
"No, I want to see your driver's license and insurance, please, and then I'll listen to you," the officer said.
"I'll give it to you in a minute," she replied.
"No, you give it to me now, or I'm going to take you to jail," he said.
"Well, go ahead," she said.
The officer then pulled her out of her car and handcuffed her.
Bedford's attorney, Clay Graham, of Fort Worth, said the officer overreacted.
"The officer is not very interested in listening to what she has to say," Graham said. "She gets a little frustrated. And then he just overwhelms her. That's what I see. And then it goes from routine stop to ridiculous stop."
Graham said Bedford was injured during the arrest.
He said Bedford is not interested in filing a lawsuit right now but isn't ruling it out in the future.
The lawyer said the woman was returning home from playing the piano at church when the incident occurred.
In a statement, Keene Police Chief Rocky Alberti stood by the officer's actions.
"This incident has been reviewed thoroughly by the Keene Police Department and the City of Keene Administration," Alberti said in a written statement. "All parties have concluded that Sgt. Geheb did not violate any state laws or department policies, and in fact was following department policy in regards to violators not providing identification."
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All she had to do was show her license and documents. She is the one who escalated the situation. The officer plainly did not want to haul her out of her car. Talk about a bad day at work.
She may have become befuddled when pulled over and reacted this way out of confusion.
We have an elderly family member, much older than the lady in this video, who should not be driving. We have tried, but it is very difficult to legally make them stop driving in our state. When our family member gets confused or overwhelmed by something, she too will become argumentative and difficult to reason with. I can envision her reacting this way too.
If that is the case then she is not competent enough to possess a driver's license and it should be revoked.
Have you been stopped for speeding - after you show your lic, registration and insurance card the cop goes back to his patrol car, calls in or uses his computer to check on all your documents, then writes a ticket, this takes up to 10 or 15 minutes - what does she do, get out and pee in the street or wet her car. How do I know this, I have relatives in law enforcement and they say the thing to do was to follow her home, let her use the facilities then give her a ticket. We do not live in a police state, yet.
10-15 minutes? Bull@!$%#. Every time I've gotten a ticket (which has been numerous) it's taken less than 5 except for the first time when he was busy checking out my ass when I had to get my license out of the trunk.
Catjmj- Numerous tickets, eh? Do you still have a license? How much are your insurance rates? Is your ass really that nice? Pictures would be nice.
Yes, numerous tickets. I probably had 10 in 3 years all for speeding, but none of them went on my record because I was always very polite to the officer and they wrote it so it wouldn't. I do still have a license as my last ticket was 3 years ago and the one before that was 3 years before. My insurance rates are very reasonable actually, although they are slightly elevated since my husband has a ticket on his record. Yes, my ass used to be that nice, but you'd probably not think so today.
@SIESTASIS
Your relatives must be real kind and have ALL the time int he world. In the big cities, you show your ID, if you dont have it then its a ticket off the bat. You must have insurance and a name they can run. If you fail to comply, you will have a free ride...but in the back seat of the cruiser.
I am all the way the Cops on this one. Just a old hag trying to one up someone. She got her just desserts. I hope they tasted good
I love it when people assume based on emotion, and not on logic.
maybe the ones defendign the police officer should drive through his area I have had the misfortune of dealing with some moron cops in TX they so act above the law and NO ONE does anything about them NO ONE untill someone steps in and governs them you will have cops acting like this and someone put it right you have 24 hrs to produce your id but then again that is in all the other states I am sure TX runs on rules they make up as they go
Cecilia, although I sympathize with your infliction, I think if you review the video you will come to the same conclusion, that most of us have, that this person is trying to use her condition to get out of the ticket or explain why she is breaking the law. If she would have just provided the officer with her license and registration as requested (many times) it would have actually taken less time and it would have never escalated to this level. I agree with earlier post that say if this were a teenager we would be outraged for the teenagers behavior, we shouldnt give her a pass because she is 77.
Ya'know...old people are so dam stupid! That old bitch was totally wrong.
If i was the cop, i would have shot it, then said FREEZE!
thanks for not being a cop.
Okay, fly. Time to give your Mommy back her computer. You're a great example of why children shouldn't be allowed online without supervision.
What you mean thats what most of you are saying and that is most of their attitudes are on the job
For those of you not in the medical field. Elderly people with a uti for whatever reason often have a change in mental status. A cop with a GED of course wouldn't know that. They only pull over ones they think they can bully and look like they have the money to pay the ticket anyway. Meanwhile, the real criminals just drive by and laugh. Not to mention she might be senile.
Are you looking for empathy? It seems that does not exist anymore. He certainly did overreact... she was cranky and he had no patience. Two cranky people going at it.
You are just plain wrong, and if someone is senile or UTI that is so bad she is behaving irrationally, on meds that can cause issues, or has some other issue going on that makes it unsafe to drive or makes her unable to comply with a simple, legal request, s/he should NOT be driving in the first place. She might be senile and own a gun, and she might have pulled it out on him. For you, who obviously haven't much of a clue about the "medical field" without your anti-law enforcement filter on, please back off and look at this reasonably before accusing people of things you have no knowledge of in this case. Whatever the reason, anyone with sense doesn't refuse what she did, and if she doesn't have sense enough to think clearly she shouldn't be driving.
He should have called for medical assistance. I'm glad you aren't in the medical field as you would probably pepper spray or shoot all the irrational people. I would hope you have gallons of pepper spray because you would need it. You can't ask an illegal for a drivers license but you can sure yank granny out of the car because a cop said so. "I demand to know who you are?" Yet when a cop is investigated the general public is not allowed to know until late in the investigation after cover ups and lost evidence? Whatever. Cops need to be doing police work on rapes, murder, drugs, extortion, assaults, etc. Not extorting money from minor traffic violations because they are too lazy and too busy living off other peoples taxes. I despise paying taxes for all of you double standard public SERVANTS . Clean up the corruption in Law Enforcement and then maybe you can give a logical argument.
I had a perfectly normal looking woman (not elderly but middle aged) get upset with me for driving the speed limit in the left hand lane (I had a left hand exit coming up). She passed me (fine), got in front of me and then braked hard. Now that is the type of person who should be manhandled by the cops. That is a real threat.
@Bi Polar Wookie w/a PhD
LOL for a PhD you are AWFULLY biased. What did you get busted for smoking doobies one too many times in the dorm?? Haha. Here, let me enlighten you. You can ask an illigal for a drivers licence when they are pulled over for a traffic violation. Its procedure, its a way to identify. You MUST have a drivers licence to operate a motor vehicle. Normally other passengers will not be asked to identify unless there are suspicions of illegal activites going on in the car that the officer suspects and can ASK for the car to be searched unless there is suspicions such as a handgun/drugs out in open view that warrants a search without approval.
A Cop can ask you to identify yourself. Not doing so is FAILURE TO IDENTIFY. A Law.
The correct way to spell license is license, not licence. Proves my point. Cops with a GED are just that. Idiots like you that can't even spell correctly. No wonder so many cases are dismissed. So go school some unsuspecting idiot that has the mind of a third grader then come back and try again.
PS Hooked on phonics can work for you too.
NO ONE should be mad handled no wonder the world is the way it is didnt think there was that many idiots
He did what he had to. She should be setting a example instead of thinking she was above the law. Trust me I would of let her set in jail in wet paints if I had to just so my children didn't think it is ok to be disrespectful to a person of the law..He said get out Then, get out! Wonder why our kids act like they do...??
Just wondering- couldn't he have followed her to a rest room somewhere and then cited her if necessary. Are all these cops so macho? She probably did have an issue- I think he could have found another way to handle this.
Followed her to a restroom? Seriously? So give him the papers, get your warning or ticket, and go to the bathroom. All he wanted was her license and insurance, and SHE refused and argued. She could have been in a bathroom in five minutes if she had chosen to follow his requests.
@ kcdad....it is ok when she is not willing to abide by the law. Age has nothing to do with it at this point. What else could the officer do.. "ok mam, you don't have to give me your license, have a nice day!"
if it was a 25 year old man, it would have been ok?\
If he had a medical condition, then yeah. What if he had kidney stones?
If he had kidney stones that were that bad he didn't need to be driving, either. I get having to go badly, but you plan for that and you don't speed, and if you speed and they pull you over you hand them your stuff, you get your ticket, and you go pee. Simple as that.
You can develop pain while driving ... but I suppose getting your license out would be paramount because the cops think everyone is lying, and by the looks of it, so does everyone else. I wonder why? Perhaps the USA is just rampant with liars.
Looks like the number of stupid, liberal comments is declining.
Grannies are not above the law and deserve no special treatment,
especially ones with an attitude.
The same applies to Obama.
What does this have to do with Obama? Geez, next time a Repub gets in office I am going to fault him for every thing that goes wrong in my life.
I know! Show Obama the same respect Bush got....jeeeeeze!
The only person on here making this about politics is you, and you didn't even do it very well. I am a liberal and I think he made a reasonable request. She didn't follow any of his requests and got arrested. She made a choice and got the consequences.
ram, if only everyone did what they were supposed to do, the world would be a much better place. But then again, it's only wrong when the person doing it is not you. And I truly believe that although she was belligerent, he was arrogant.
i would have tazed her first. no sense risking getting dirty or tearing a uniform.
You MUST comply with the law..If a Police asks for whatever you do it, it's the law! This happening to a 77 year old lady is just unfortunate. But I stand behind the police man, He did his job. Sorry Mrs. Granny, better listen to the Police next time...
She was wrong..Do as your told and set a example for our younger generation. Why is she above the law..She got what she deserved.
Exactly! I'm 17..even I know this stuff....
She's the one who said 'go ahead' when he threatened to take her to jail.
I had someone tell me to take them to court when she was trying to screw me out of money for a business I sold her, so I said ok, hung up the phone, and called an attorney. This is why they say be careful of what you wish for.
Seriously~ Cops are not Gods of any kind contrary to what 50% of them think about themselves.
Perhaps if "Officer Friendly" had more training, he would have found a more intelligent and less inappropriate way diffuse the situation. If this cop is willing to drag a 77 yr old women from her car over a inane and minor infraction I imagine he's just thinks he can shoot any apparent minor criminal and ask questions later.
Pathetically ,most police officers have to much power and and not enough education ~ they are no longer community helpers in most places. They have become the armed enforcers and the new bogey man to millions of children in this country.
I hear you.It speaks to how we've seen in recent years that cops can be as big of criminals as those they go after. But while I would be mad if this happened to my mom,I would be asking her'what the heck,mom?'
I must say that for the very few times I have contacted police (theft, runaway relative), I have never gotten any help at all. It seems they're too busy at the traffic fundraiser.
OBAMA COP ,Against senors
I am 65 and i would like to know what being 77 makes this refusal to comply ok? The woman should have shown her ID and been cooperative with the officer. being 77 and a grandma doesn't give you a license to just do what you want when a Cop approaches you and ask for ID. i know some 77 year old's that have robed banks should they be give a break because they are 77? My son is a cop and I would hope he would react the same way as this officer did.
At a time when I am teaching my children about the decisions they make and the consequences that follow, I share with them this story. She chose to speed and therefore chose the consequences. She should have followed his directions. If she had complied from the beginning, she would have been done an on her way in under 5 minutes.
I would be curious to know how many bathrooms she passed while speeding along the what looks like fairly busy street.
this video should teach about bullying too hope you use it
My only question is: why wasn't she charged with resisting arrest??
While he likely followed the letter of the law, he didn't follow common sense. There should have been many ways to defuse the situation. Most elderly people are respectful and obey authority, so when she didn't immediately follow this requests, he should have come up with other approaches.
Like what? I'm being serious, here. What should he have done to get her to follow his repeated requests for her ID and insurance?
Sorry Robert, if she has a drivers license, she needs to follow the same laws as everyone else. She doesn't get special treatment based on her AGE!
Cat, she said "just a minute." If she did not comply, he could have followed her home and arrested her there. Then she would have been in deep you know what. Pulling an old lady onto the ground was not the BEST way to do this.
To Jo-An-4354969
Yes, absolute obedience, regardless of age. Which is why the Philadelphia police were absolutely correct in giving that ticket for public urination when the male could no longer hold it. And the fact that the child was only 2 years old makes no difference.
You're right jan. The best way to have done this was for HER to have proven that she was legally allowed to drive.
So Robert, if it was an 18 year old kid with a bladder infection...still OKAY with you?
She wasted MORE time arguing with the cop, than it would take to pull out her drivers license...her kids are probably ALL in jail, with her as a role model.
PS a 2 year peeing outside is NOT a crime in most circles.
We must learn to obey our overlords, non compliance will be dealt with the most severe consequences. Our masters know what is best no matter what age you are, submit and obey our be destroyed.