Posted on 07/10/2007 7:44:08 PM PDT by restornu
Betty Perry's dry lawn is seen at her home in Orem Friday, July 6, 2007.
Betty Perry's dry, desolate lawn has put her in a spotlight that extends from coast to coast and even across two oceans.
The 70-year-old Orem woman was arrested and injured on Friday after a police officer tried to ticket her for not watering her front lawn. By Monday, the media frenzy had spread as far as Great Britain and New Zealand.
Newspapers from across the United States told Perry's story, and Fox News interviewed her on Monday morning. The London-based British Broadcasting Corporation included the story about the incident on its Web site, as did sites in New Zealand and the Netherlands. Countless blogs also ran the story, along with headlines that criticized the arresting officer and the city.
"After what they did to me I want everybody in the world to know," Perry said on Monday.
The incident began when a police officer assigned to Orem's Neighborhood Preservation Unit knocked on Perry's door Friday morning and said he was giving her a citation for her brown, barren lawn. Perry refused to give the officer her name and insisted on going inside her house first to call her son and ask his advice on the situation.
When Perry refused to give the officer her name, he decided to place her under arrest. Police said Perry pulled away from the officer as he tried to handcuff her and Perry said she "tried to sit down to get away from him." In the ensuing struggle, Perry fell to the ground, bruising her elbows, knees and legs. She also said she was hit in the face with a handcuff, causing a prominent bruise on her nose.
"I want people to know that this is not American to handcuff and put somebody in jail because their lawn is brown. ... They could've given me a ticket or done something else," Perry said.
The officer arrested Perry and she was in jail for about an hour before supervisors became aware of the situation and released her. Police spokesman Lt. Doug Edwards said she was released because the situation could have been resolved by other means. For example, the officer could have gotten her name through property records.
"That's where I think that we made a tactical error in that there were other options available as opposed to taking physical custody," Edwards said.
Edwards said while the situation could have been handled differently, the officer's actions were well within the law, which requires people to identify themselves to an officer who is issuing a citation. She was arrested, he said, because she refused to identify herself.
"What happened was not the way that we prefer to do business," Edwards said. "But clearly she did some things that were wrong too in not just saying her name."
The citation was never issued because Perry refused to give the officer her name, but Edwards said the investigation is open and charges such as resisting arrest and failure to identify are a possibility. After Perry fell to the ground, police said she rolled onto her stomach and put her hands underneath her body to prevent the officer from handcuffing her.
The department is also conducting an internal investigation into the incident. The officer, who was not identified because of the open investigation, was placed on administrative leave. There are four officers assigned to the Neighborhood Preservation Unit.
Perry said she has not yet decided whether to take legal action against the city. She said she wanted to wait until after seeing doctors about her injuries. She went to the hospital for X-rays on Friday and again on Saturday.
While Perry has not made a decision on whether to go to court, she said the incident did help her decide to move from Orem. She had been considering selling her house before the arrest, and said Friday's incident clinched it for her.
"Since this has happened I don't want to live in Orem anymore because of it," she said. "I know now that I'll never see another winter (here)."
Perry said she has received a great deal of support from family, friends and members of her LDS ward. The city and police department, however, saw a deluge of calls and e-mails from people who were concerned about the arrest.
Orem Mayor Jerry Washburn said it is frustrating to see the city is getting so much bad press, but said he understands the concerns that people have over the incident. He also said he spoke with Perry on Monday.
"We are very concerned and really sorry for what happened in terms of the arrest," Washburn said. "If there was a complaint it should've followed a different course of action, and so we are very sorry that that happened. I have expressed as much to Mrs. Perry as well."
Washburn also said the incident is completely uncharacteristic of the Neighborhood Preservation Unit, which deals with code enforcement but spends much of its time dealing with drug houses and other illegal activity in neighborhoods.
"It's not reflective of our department or our excellent, excellent staff of officers," he said.
While the incident raises a lot of questions about city policies toward the appearance of people's yards, especially in dry conditions that have helped spark numerous wildfires in this and other counties, Washburn said it is not city policy to force people to water their lawns. City ordinances require residents to maintain their yards and keep them free of junk, though Washburn said few citations have been issued for brown lawns.
"If you drive through Orem there are lawns everywhere that are brown and dried and whatever else," he said. "That is not our policy to go around and enforce green lawns."
Jeremy Duda can be reached at 344-2561 or jduda@heraldextra.com.
CTR
this will certainly impair her ability to obtain a temple card
Isn’t there a drought in Utah right now? She’s just doing her part to save water.
Maybe they should stick to closing down crack houses instead of forcing people to water their lawns.
The City would declare her property a "nuisance", seize it and sell it at auction, with the proceeds going into City coffers.
She’ll be able to afford home repairs, new landscaping, professional gardners, and a regular lawn service with her settlement. But she’ll never do it. Slob.
Thanks Rest but I’m not in the mood to get “beat up” around here tonight:’)
Or divert some of the men in the Police Department's, apparently well-manned, "Lawn Enforcement Squad" over to narcotics detail.
Well.....maybe not all of them.
Winter rye is green in winter and dead brown in summer. Is that dumb ass cop going to go to the high dollar neighborhoods and ticket those homeowners as well?
Ironic, since she could be in trouble for watering her lawn during a drought. Wasn’t there a case a while ago where a neighbor shot another because they WERE watering their lawn?
Just 28 for nuisance properties.
I’d bet she has been overwhelmed by tort lawyers
This is decidedly bizarre.
Also, she did not refuse to give her name. She told the officer that she wanted to telephone her son and ask him whether or not she should. I should think that would be within her rights.
Similarly, she could have said that she wanted to call a lawyer before answering any questions.
I don’t know about Orem in particular, but there are places out in that general part of the country where grass simply was never meant to grow, and watering lawns has drawn down the water tables to dangerous levels. Keeping it green all year simply is unrealistic in the long term.
Like say, Vegas, or anywhere else in Nevada and Arizona for instance? They, along with Kalifornia, are sucking the Colorado river dry.
But hey, their lawns and golf courses are green.
They must not have Tasers there. A shot of mace would have made her a bit more cooperative.
I wish they would send that officer to arrest the idiots that live behind me playing loud rap music on a boombox in their back yard.
The problem here is the dumb-ass Lt Edwards doesn't know his own state law. They need to do a complete overhaul of that so called police force.
Heck, what about the good ol’ trusty baton? A few licks and she would have submitted right away.
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