84-Year-Old Woman Slammed By Cops — But The Video Doesn’t Show ‘Why’ [Video]

Wait before you yell “police brutality” on this viral video. While they may not have had to use that much force, there’s a reason cops had to take this 84-year-old woman down.

There’s a video circulating the Internet, now, of an elderly woman getting slammed by law enforcement officers. This is actually a recirculation, as the video is from 2009. However, since police brutality is a hot topic, it has become relevant yet again.

The incident took place at a Wal-Mart in Ohio. As can be seen from the video, 84-year-old Virginia Dotson was speaking to someone. Apparently, something was amiss because the incident was already being recorded before officers ever showed up.

Eventually, you see a patrol car arrive and a policewoman steps out. As she approaches the elderly woman, she asks her to do something. The video is nearly inaudible, so it couldn’t be heard. However, next thing you see is the officer taking the woman by the arm and slamming her to the ground. Thus, everyone in disbelief rushes the female cop, attempting to get her off the lady. Understandable, yes?

Well, according to Fox News at the time of the incident, the woman was holding a steak knife and had been threatening to stab someone’s child. It’s also reported that she had Alzheimer’s disease.

The National Institute on Aging states an AD patient is supposed to have someone with him or her throughout the day. While Dotson’s daughter was in the store, she either should have taken her in the store with her or had someone in the vehicle with her.

Federal Jack reports that Virginia Dotson couldn’t remember why she was sitting alone inside of her family’s car. And she started to panic when she couldn’t remove her seat belt promptly. For whatever reason, there was a steak knife inside the car. After grabbing the knife, she cut through the seat belt and let herself out of the vehicle and into the parking lot — with the knife still in her possession.

Although Dotson was in her daughter’s care, Virginia’s daughter was inside the store while the elderly woman walked around with the weapon. After so long, she became a public danger, and police were called to the scene. That’s where the video picks up.

As Virginia was calling for her daughter throughout the parking lot, the officer arrived and asked her to drop the weapon. When she didn’t comply, the policewoman executed a maneuver to disarm her, as seen in the video. Unfortunately, Virginia needed stitches by the end of the incident. While the male officer said that they weren’t going to hurt her, it did mistakenly happen.

While people have called the officers racists, the cameraman — Stan Brown, who is African-American himself — said that he believed that no racism was involved at the time, and that it was just an unfortunate situation for the officer, as reports Fox News.

However, while Mr. Brown said that he felt bad for the officer, he could be heard on the recording as follows.

“Officer Fullerton of the Whitehall Police Department…Yeah, I’m out her… sitting here watching these police beat up an 80-year-old old lady, man. Yeah, you know this is going on the news tonight, bro. I got the news footage.”

After the steak knife incident, the department was under heavy scrutiny from the nation, even as far as Texas and California. Even today, talks are stirring again from the 2009 incident. On Facebook, the video was uploaded by Hollywood Shawtyz and has since received 2.6 million views and counting. Its comment section has received nearly 8,000 entries, and they seem to be of mixed agreement. Some of them can be seen in the image below.

It’s understandable to be upset about the situation, especially placing oneself in Virginia’s daughter’s shoes. And, it’s definitely not to discount all the recent episodes of police brutality toward the African-American population. Researched police statements have proven African-American targeting is a fact. Also, this doesn’t mean that the officer’s amount of force was justified.

However, if you’ve never dealt with someone wielding a weapon — atop of someone with Alzheimer’s — it can be a difficult and dangerous task. It’s easy to think you can simply take a knife from someone, but it’s more volatile than you may realize. It looks simple in action movies.

But, have you personally ever taken a steak knife, with an average length of nine inches, from someone who was trying to cut you while he or she is fearful and pumped full of adrenaline? Unless you’re Steven Seagal, Chuck Norris, or Wesley Snipes, it’s highly improbable for the average person — even the average cop.

While the female officer’s force may have been excessive, she wasn’t going to simply take it from her — as the comments suggest. Police officers aren’t “superheroes.” They’re regular people who have taken on a certain responsibility to public safety. Sure, there are bad cops. Definitely. However, these officers weren’t invincible and could’ve been hurt by the elderly woman as well.

As a personal experience, there was a time when this writer’s stepfather had an interaction with his (the stepfather’s) own father. His father had Alzheimer’s disease and forgot he was related to the family. One’s stepfather had to stand in front of his father — who was holding a rifle towards his own son’s chest and threatening to end his life. One’s stepfather plead with him not to shoot, attempting to convince him of their relationship as father and son.

So, while it’s easy to talk about “taking the knife from her hands,” it’s not real until you actually try to do it.

What are your thoughts? Feel free to comment below.

[Video and Image via YouTube]