"Parco spent about 20 minutes asking Merola to move the car before she was arrested. "
Ol' grandma wasn't budging before she got fries "without salt"? One would think that, in less than half the space of the twenty minutes the officer spent trying to persuade her, someone from the McDonalds could have supplied the unsalted fries? Then ask her to move along?
The end of the problem, the solution to the problem, was right there all along, right at the beginning of the [small] problem.
Did she pay for the "unsalted' fries, and did she ever get them? If she did pay for them, I can see why someone, particularly elderly, might dig in their heels until the transaction was completed. Having a policeman talk to her for twenty minutes (while still not getting the dang fries!) was undoubtedly exasperating for the old bird...
It makes me wonder about how many other situations this officer approaches, relying first and foremost, just about entirely [20 minutes?!? sheesh!] on his authority to order folks around, and thus blinded when someone fails to comply.
Being a policeman can be tough, of that we have no doubt.
It's difficult to be graceful, when others around you, are most certainly not.
In the future, instead off running the risk of making bad situations worse, maybe the this officer should try also, using something other than only [default] power of authority, you know, like maybe a brain?
I would presume that she paid for the "unsalted fries" and was told by the people at the window to move up so that the people behind her could proceed...which she apparently was unwilling to do.
Getting unsalted fries at McDonald's can take a while as the person taking the order haas to catch the next batch of fries that come out before they are salted. Others needing orders of fries and walking by may dump the next batch and salt it before you get to it. (Just saying.)
Good point. As people get older, the ability to react quickly diminishes. We move at an ever-slower pace; this should be taken into consideration.
In the future, instead off running the risk of making bad situations worse, maybe the this officer should try also, using something other than only [default] power of authority, you know, like maybe a brain?
Agree!!
Did you read the story?
The property owner’s representative told her to move her car and that the food would be brought to her.
She refused.
End of story.
She’s in the wrong from that point on. She does not have the right to block a businesses lawful business activities.
And nowhere does it say it took 20 minutes to get her fries. She was simply being stubborn at everyone else's expense.