A woman in Oklahoma repeatedly refused being given a traffic ticket, authorities say, apparently going so far as to kick the cop and get herself shocked with a Taser.
Given the tragic ending of so many police encounters in this nation (read: Sandra Bland, Philando Castile, and Alton Sterling), you can probably guess how this story turned out.
And you’d be wrong.
According to NBC News, Debra Hamil, 65, is alive and well (well, as well as anyone can be when they’re facing felony charges) after police in Cashion, Okla., said they had to manhandle, stun-gun, and place her under arrest after she steadfastly refused to accept a traffic ticket for having a broken tail light.
And if you haven’t guessed already, Hamil is a white woman. A factor that led many online to posit that if she had not been, frankly, she would have likely been a “was.”
Naturally, the cop’s response to Hamil’s behavior—a taser followed by a brief verbal exchange—prompted many online to highlight what the police response would have been should she not have been white.
Among responses from the Twitterverse:
Police video released of the incident shows Hamil apparently refusing to sign off on an $80 ticket the officer has written over the tail light, stating, per NBC News: “I don’t think that I deserve to pay $80 for something that is fixable and I can fix it.”
That doesn’t go over well, and the cop says she’s under arrest.
That appears to lead to more words from Hamil (“you are full of shit”; “you’re not placing me under arrest”; “shut up”), as revealed by the video footage before the officer finally has had enough of her shit her.
She tries to take off in her vehicle, leading to a short police chase, before video footage shows the officer catching up with her and pulling her from the car. When she continues to put up a fight, the police video shows the officer using his Taser on her, all while she continues kicking him.
Wow. All Philando Castile had to do to merit being cut down in a hail of bullets by a cop during a traffic stop was to try to show his license and registration.
But as for Hamil, she has the privilege of still being alive to tell the tale, a tale that now includes, according to NBC News, a felony charge of assault on a police officer and a misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest.
Go figure.
DISCUSSION
Hey guys, have you seen the photo of her “broken tail light”? (screenshot below) She lives in a very small town (I know, because it’s near me) and she’s been driving around like this for six months. In other words, those small town cops had already let her get by with this for months.