An attorney for an 87-year-old woman shocked with a police Taser is seeking a financial settlement from a northwest Georgia city over the incident.
Attorney Jeffrey Dean said his firm is representing Martha Al-Bishara, according to the Daily Citizen-News of Dalton.
“In order to protect the family from an all-out media blitz, we reached out to the city of Chatsworth in order to resolve the case," Dean told the newspaper. "We have seen the video, and there is no aggressive moves against the officers.
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“They actually put themselves in a bad spot by walking up close to her. She had no idea what they were saying to her. Before the video becomes public, we wanted to resolve the case.”
Chatsworth police used a Taser on Al-Bishara on Aug. 10 when she did not comply with their demands to drop a kitchen knife, according to the incident report.
She was carrying the knife to cut and collect dandelions, which she liked to do near her home, police said. But the woman, whose native language is Arabic, came too close to the Boys and Girls Club in Murray County to suit staff members, and they called police.
Realizing she couldn’t understand them, the officers tried to gesture that they wanted the woman to drop the knife. Still, Al-Bishara held her knife and continued walking toward the officers, police said.
When she was about 5 yards away, one of the officers deployed his Taser, hitting Al-Bishara in the chest. She fell to the ground, was handcuffed and arrested on charges of obstruction of an officer and criminal trespass.
The insurer representing Chatsworth did not comment on the matter to the newspaper.
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