Poll of the Day > Coffee-seeking 81-year-old leads police on low-speed chase

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"Why should I stop when I've done nothing?" the 81-year-old would say later.

So despite the officer's protestations, Strader simply drove away, with police in pursuit, with speeds reaching as much as 25 mph.

"I just was out riding around," Strader would tell the news station later. "I thought, I'm going to go have me some coffee or a sandwich or something because I hadn't eaten all day."

But police stopped Strader after other drivers reported her driving around in circles and going the wrong direction on Elm Street.

"I just want to make sure you're OK," the bodycam video showed one officer saying to her. "Unlock the car for me."

Instead, she began to pull away.

And so began the chase, with twinkling squad cars tailing Strader's Jeep for 10 minutes before she stopped again.

This time, officers slashed Strader's tires. When she again refused their request to access the vehicle, officers shattered her window and pulled her out of the vehicle. She was charged with evading arrest. Fourteen hours later, her son posted $1,000 bond to spring her from jail.

She never did get that cup of coffee.

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/denton/2017/06/23/coffee-seeking-81-year-old-leads-denton-police-low-speed-chase
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Is it bad that I laughed?
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CountessRolab posted...

When she again refused their request to access the vehicle, officers shattered her window and pulled her out of the vehicle.

wtf? Brutality much?
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Zeus posted...

CountessRolab posted...

When she again refused their request to access the vehicle, officers shattered her window and pulled her out of the vehicle.

wtf? Brutality much?

Saying that they "pulled her from the vehicle" is nowhere near descriptive enough to decide whether there was brutality or not.
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darkknight109 posted...

Zeus posted...

CountessRolab posted...

When she again refused their request to access the vehicle, officers shattered her window and pulled her out of the vehicle.

wtf? Brutality much?

Saying that they "pulled her from the vehicle" is nowhere near descriptive enough to decide whether there was brutality or not.

On re-reading, I suppose I interpreted it as they pulled her out of the broken window which I've seen them do to sovereign citizens in videos. But sure, it's possible they unlocked the door, opened it, and pulled her out despite it not being explicitly mentioned.
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Zeus posted...

CountessRolab posted...

When she again refused their request to access the vehicle, officers shattered her window and pulled her out of the vehicle.

wtf? Brutality much?

And? Who the fuck cares? She was literally dumb enough to not cooperate with them for a whole ten minutes and the fact that they had to slash her tires and bust her window says it all.

Not to mention if she's driving the wrong direction or just.... badly, she's putting other vehicles at risk.
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Why did they want her to unlock the door the first time? That doesn't seem normal.
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Kyuubi4269 posted...

Why did they want her to unlock the door the first time? That doesn't seem normal.

Because it's a lot easier to open an unlocked door than a locked one.
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If she had just refused the first time and they did it I would be on her side, but when she drove away before the traffic stop had ended she lost the high ground.
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slacker03150 posted...

If she had just refused the first time and they did it I would be on her side, but when she drove away before the traffic stop had ended she lost the high ground.

Did they underestimate her power?
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Krow_Incarnate posted...

Zeus posted...

CountessRolab posted...

When she again refused their request to access the vehicle, officers shattered her window and pulled her out of the vehicle.

wtf? Brutality much?

And? Who the fuck cares? She was literally dumb enough to not cooperate with them for a whole ten minutes and the fact that they had to slash her tires and bust her window says it all.

Not to mention if she's driving the wrong direction or just.... badly, she's putting other vehicles at risk.

She's 81. Odds are she's half-senile. If somebody is young, able-bodied, and in their right mind, you can justify some amount of roughness but this sounded excessive for a feeble-minded and feeble-bodied person.
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She's driving. If she's not mentally capable, that's her problem and she shouldn't be in the car to begin with.

Plus, she clearly wasn't too senile to stop for them to begin with. But she's too senile to cooperate with them afterwards? Give me a break.
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CountessRolab posted...

She never did get that cup of coffee.

Why does this make me so sad
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Krow_Incarnate posted...

She's driving. If she's not mentally capable, that's her problem and she shouldn't be in the car to begin with.

Plus, she clearly wasn't too senile to stop for them to begin with. But she's too senile to cooperate with them afterwards? Give me a break.

Clearly she shouldn't be driving. However, if a person isn't mentally capable, they aren't able to make that decision. While you can blame somebody who impairs themselves with drugs and alcohol, it's a lot harder to blame somebody who is impaired through no fault of their own as a result of aging.

Mead posted...

CountessRolab posted...

She never did get that cup of coffee.

Why does this make me so sad

Don't cops offer suspects coffee when they're in for questioning? Or did tv lie to me yet again?
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Again, how impaired was she if she stopped for them the first time.

And then to not stop for the same exact same lights a second time?
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Krow_Incarnate posted...

Again, how impaired was she if she stopped for them the first time.

This means nothing.

Two weeks before his death my grandfather got in his car to go driving somewhere, pulled out of his driveway and promptly rear-ended a parked car. We went over to visit him and he was upset at himself that it had happened, but we could tell something was off about him. He was speaking perfectly lucidly and logically, but then he couldn't figure out how to turn on his TV set.

And this was a man who, up to that point in his life, was completely cogent and independent. He was 10 days later (complications from a cancer relapse that most likely played a role in his mental state that day) - it was an illustration for me that when a mind starts to deteriorate, it doesn't exactly do so in predictable or logical ways.
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