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I can only surmise that this older lady should not have dealt with it the way she did. Walking away from cops in the middle of a field interview can not be too smart.

You gotta be kidding me. This lady was in her own house and was probably scared to death when she left to call her son. She was not under arrest. It is not mandatory in this country to talk to police when you're not under arrest, nor when you ARE under arrest.

Also, given that he was "in a truck" and immediately "called for backup," I wonder if the guy was even on duty. Or was he off duty, driving down the street, and took it upon himself to go roust somebody over their yard? If that was the case, quadruple the woman's justification for being scared out of her mind.

Just curious, 10-13, are you a policeman?

MM (in TX)

The Officer was there to address a violation of a city ordinance. The "old lady" was not unaware of the problem. She chose to leave the interview before it was apparently completed. The Officer chose to arrest her, perhaps for Obstruction, due to her unwillingness to cooperate. This was more thasn just "talking to an Officer", it was an invest into a violation of an ordinance. Pulling the "I'm old" card does not forgive non-compliance.

Both had choices, yet both made the wrong ones.