A 70 year old widow and grandmother ended up in an Orem Utah jail after refusing to give her name to a police officer who knocked on her door to give her a ticket for not watering her lawn, violating a local ordinance.
When Betty Perry heard a knock at her door and saw a police officer standing outside, she never imagined she would end up in jail. That’s what happened, though, when the officer tried enforcing Orem’s nuisance ordinance against neglected yards.
“I didn’t want to tell him anything until I talked to a lawyer or my son. I wanted to see what he’d tell me to do. I’ve never had any experience before with the law, ever in my life,” she said.
As the enforcement officer started writing her a ticket, she tried going back in her house. That’s when the officer tried to handcuff her for refusing to give her name and resisting the ticket. She tripped on the steps, scraping up her nose and elbows, leaving blood on her door, her porch and her clothes. Perry was handcuffed, fingerprinted and put in a jail cell, where she sat for more than an hour.
Be sure to click through to see the picture of her lawn!
I think she could use a rain barrel or two.
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This entry was posted on Monday, July 9th, 2007 at 1:28 pm and is filed under In the News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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14 comments ↓
We have many full water barrells here we could forward to her (east Anglia, Uk Wettest June on Record)
The officer should be reprimanded. Apparently the officer is in the wrong line of work. What is this country coming to? This is absolutely outrageous!
I’m guessing he thought if he rough her up and arrested her, that would send a clear message to other would be brown lawn criminals.If I knew her address I’d send her enough to water her lawn for the rest of the year.
Better yet, if I were her son I’d get a couple gallons of green paint and spray it, then send a picture to the mayor, police chief and the cop telling them to kiss my lilly white ass!
I could us a man like that to keep my customers lawns green but not on my streets or my city. I can see it now as the bank robber heads for the border with his friend the crazy killer.
A retirement community is getting what they deserve!!!
I am a police officer and I would like to offer a different perspective on the altercation with the granny who refused to water her lawn. That officer had no choice but to arrest her. All she had to do was identify herself and take the citation. It doesn’t mean she is guilty. Remember innocent until proven guilty. Court is the proper place to dispute the citation. She can have her lawyer and her son with her to defend her case.
There would be no law and order in our beautiful America if we let everyone who commits a crime, be it a felony, misdemeanor, or simple forfeiture slam the door in our face and refuse to identify themselves to law enforcement.
How do you think a police officer would react if “Joe Citizen” got pulled over for a traffic infraction, refused to identify himself because you wanted a lawyer present, then sped off? Do you think that officer would just return to his squad and go find someone else to stop? Not a chance, now Joe Citizen just increased the violation to a felony by taking off.
It is unfortunate that granny got injured and I don’t know exactly how the whole call went, however it could have all been avoided if she would not have resisted the officer. Do you really think that officer went to that call hoping to wrestle with granny and was happy that she got injured? Give me a break! We all make choices and she made a bad choice and unfortunately learned a hard lesson.
Michelle, I’m sure you’re probably right.
I still think it’s a funny story though.
Thanks for the comment from a police officer’s perspective!
Am I the only one who thinks that Utah weather played a big part in this? Last time I checked, it was dry as heck out there. I don’t think it’s a reasonable use of resources to keep arid-climate lawns green 100% of the time.
I think the whole thing is ridiculous. Yes, granny should have just given her name, but did the officer really think she was going to skip town? Come on, she’s 70 years old, for goodness sakes. Why couldn’t he just write her the ticket, put it in her door and be done with it? What does he do if people aren’t home? Hunt them down at their workplace? I can see Michelle’s perspective on a person who is speeding on the highway, but this old woman was putting noone in danger, and that’s the fact. The officer should be reprimanded publicly. And as for the law on watering lawns, is the city, county or town paying the water bill? Watering a lawn every day can rack up a good water bill - mine nearly doubled last month from trying to keep my lawn green when I finally decided to just let nature take it’s course. This woman is a 70 year-old widow, probably living on a small pension or social security. Our government is going to hell in a handbasket, people. Absolutely absurd!!!
Just looked at the water bill from last month…it actually tripled - and I didn’t water it every day!
This is ridiculous - if it were my house I would plunk my 70 year old butt in a bikini in the lawn chair in front of door in picture with a hose in one hand - wasting water!
I think the state should set up a fund for the poor and elderly to aid them on their water bills. Why should they have to pay to water their lawns. There are plenty of rich people that can pay that for her. How unjust to ask of some downtrodden person to pay for anything loke that.
What happened to the 4th amendment protection. Giving your name is considered a seizure and Terry Stops only apply to public place stops. She was in her private residence and was not committing a misdemeanor or a felony (simply an admisitrative infraction) therefore she was protected by the 4th amendment and her refusal to give her name was also protected. Utah’s Stop-and-identify law only applies to public places which the interior of her house the curtilage around the house are not considered public so Utah’s law would not apply and any attempt to force her to give her name would be an illegal seizure under the 4th Amendment. Can’t believe no one cares about people’s rights within their own homes not to mention the absurdity of the specific ordinance.
Total BS from that cop’s comment! Back in the 50’s a cop was a friend. He would simply have asked granny to water her lawn, or better yet, would have offered to help her do it. The cop did have a choice. He chose brutality over common sense! When all of the serious crimes (rape, murder, theft, etc.) are gone, then spend time worrying about granny. Cops need to remember, like they used to, that they are public servants, not public abusers. Too much power, too little guidance, too many laws, no common sense.
I think the city of orem is getting a bad reputation. I know of a person who lives in orem who was issued a citation not a warning but a citation for having is stereo too loud in an apartment. I know of a person who was given a only a warning for his dogs barking too loud at 1am. The citation for the stereo being too loud was in the afternoon. Its like the lady with the lawn. Is the city of Orem desperate for money or are they bored. Wow if it was me I would move somewhere other than Orem Utah. Besides it has a sign right by UVSC which says something like welcome to Family friendly Orem. Come on city of Orem live up to your reputation respect the elderly more.
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