LAURIE ROBERTS

Roberts: Tucson police rough up 86-year-old lady at protest

Laurie Roberts
opinion columnist

While some in the Arizona Legislature move to shut down public protests, they might want to add an amendment to the bill with special sanctions for little old ladies who yell at police officers.

Body camera footage of a Feb. 16 immigration protest in Tucson shows a woman, reported to be 86 years old, approaching several police officers, pointing and yelling at them.

In response, a police officer pushes the woman to the pavement. As another protester — this one a 65-year-old woman — moves to older lady's side, the officer rushes forward and pepper sprays her.

What the heck, Tucson?

The disturbing body cam video was released on Friday to Tucson News Now in response to a public records request.

Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus said the department is investigating.

According to local news reports, 80 or so people showed up in downtown Tucson to protest President Trump’s immigration policies and some went into the street during rush hour.

“What had been a peaceful rally, suddenly became a safety and logistical challenge as a contingent of the group decided to move off the sidewalks and into the path of traffic…,” Chief Magnus said, in a statement posted to Facebook last week. “The protesters in the street were given clear, lawful, and repeated directions by the officers that they were to leave the road and return to the sidewalks. Most of the crowd complied and returned to the sidewalks, but some of protesters did not follow the officers’ lawful directions, creating an extremely dangerous situation on a busy road.”

Three police officers sustained minor injuries..

No word on whether any of the officers sustained injuries from the old lady, who was described as a towering 4 and a half feet tall and weighing less than 100 pounds.

Rolande Baker, the pepper sprayed woman, told the Washington Post that she’s attended a number of demonstrations over the years and never before seen anything like what happened at the Feb. 16 demonstration.

“I saw the police being way more aggressive than I’ve ever seen them be ...,” the retired teacher told the Post. “Do we look violent to you?”

It’ll be up to police to sort out what happened here. I suppose both the 86-year-old and the bystander who wound up with a face full of pepper spray ought to be thankful that this happened now and not later this year.

Last week, the Arizona Senate approved a bill that would deem both of them and anyone else who attended that protest as “racketeers”.

Senate Bill 1142 would expand the state’s RICO laws – the ones set up to combat organized crime – to target protesters. Should it become law, police will be able to seize the assets of anyone involved in a protest that turns violent -- regardless of whether they were the ones rioting.

Fortunately, the bill appears to be dead after it making national news last week, proving that not all of our leaders are totally insane. Still nothing is dead until the Legislature leaves town.

If the bill does sneak through, had the lady been pushed to the ground later this year, she might have lost everything she owned.