84 year old with Alzheimer's slammed to ground

[MM27]

It's sad, but the officer had to think of his safety and those in the parking lot first. My dad had Alzheimer's disease and there was no reasoning with him when he was doing things and confused.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,539075,00.html?test=latestnews

Ohio Cops Defend Slamming 84-Year-Old With Knife to Ground
WHITEHALL, Ohio — An Ohio police department says it has received scores of calls from around the country complaining about a YouTube video showing an officer taking an 84-year-old woman to the ground.

Police Chief Richard Zitzke in the Columbus suburb of Whitehall says the officer did what she had to do when the woman was seen holding a steak knife in a Walmart parking lot on Aug. 1. Police say the woman has Alzheimer's.

Zitzke says police have tried to explain their side to callers from as far as Texas and California.

Some have called the white officer a racist. The woman was black.

But Stan Brown of Columbus, the bystander who shot the video with his phone, says he believes no racism was involved. The 29-year-old black man says he now feels badly for the officer.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

Another example of a situation in which pictures seem to tell a very different story that that which really occured. People shouldn't judge without all of the facts...

 

[Hercules10]

She was a mentally unstable person with a knife. I support what the officer did. The people running up to the situation yelling and screaming however were fools.

 

[Scurvy]

I feel terrible for the officers in situations like this. You can't let people run around with knives and possibly hurt someone just because they have some health issue, but you look really bad if you have to use force to stop them. The sad thing is that the Alzheimer's, which is likely the reason people think the person shouldn't have been slammed to the ground, is probably the reason that action had to be taken. If the person wouldn't respond to the officer when she said to drop the knife, she had no choice but to take whatever action necessary to take the knife away.

 

[catycatcat4]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW1HCsmBUJ0

thats the video link i believe.

I kinda feel bad for both sides the cop was trying to protect people the lady had a knife. she could have killed her self with it. but she wasn't at fault.

And why do people all ways have to cry racist?

 

[MM27]

Another example of a situation in which pictures seem to tell a very different story that that which really occured. People shouldn't judge without all of the facts...

I agree. I'd be more upset with the person that left the woman in the car with her seatbelt on when they went into the store. The officer had to do what he had to do. Sometimes people just need to stay out of things. However, right away people are accusing him of being racist because the woman is black

 

[Hercules10]

Police department ought to charge all the protestors with sexism since it was a female officer.

 

[Free4Life11]

Did she buy the steak knife at Walmart? And did she have a permit for that steak knife?

 

[Jennasis]

Is there another angle of the incident somewhere? I didn't see anything that looked like a body slam. In fact, the camera turned away when the lady went down.

Regardless, somebody has a weapon and is not listening to police instructions, they need to be brought down anddisarmed. I don't give a hoot how old they are or how incapacitated they are. Frankly, the more unstable they are mentally, the more important it is to disarm them immediately/.

 

[sbell111]

She's lucky that they were able to just put her down, rather than having to put her down.