Taser-shocked granny settles suit with El Reno

An El Reno grandmother has agreed to a financial settlement in the federal lawsuit she filed after police shocked her in her own bed with a Taser.
“I’m glad it’s over with,” Lona M. Varner, 87, said Tuesday.
“There’s one thing I told them, though. I wish that every person in law enforcement would have to take a full and complete course in paramedics. That way, maybe, they would think first before they shoot.”
Varner and her grandson, Lonnie D. Tinsley, sued El Reno and police officers after she was subdued with a Taser on Dec. 22, 2009, in her apartment. Tinsley, 48, complained police threw him to the floor and handcuffed him when he told officers, “Don’t Tase my granny!”
A civil trial was set to begin April 11. The lawsuit was settled Friday.
Attorneys would not disclose how much the city’s insurance is paying Varner and her grandson in the settlement.
“We settled it with them. We can’t divulge the money end of it. But, you know, I bet they won’t be doing it again,” said Varner’s attorney, Roger Everett, of Yukon.
POLICE OFFICERS REPORTED THEY FELT THREATENED
Police officers said they came to the apartment after being told Varner might be attempting suicide with a drug overdose. She was then 86.
Police officer Thomas Duran reported Varner pulled a kitchen knife from under her pillow.
He reported, “Varner looked me in the eyes and said, ‘If you try and get the knife, I will stab you and kill you.’”
Duran reported he used his Taser first after other officers arrived and Varner continued to make threats with the knife.
He reported his Taser did not make good contact so another officer used a second Taser against her. “The Taser rendered Varner incapable of any further aggressive action,” he reported.
In deposition testimony in January, Varner denied making any threats to police.
She also denied attempting suicide.
She said instead she felt lightheaded on Dec. 22, 2009, because her medication was clashing.
She also said she didn’t at first realize police officers had invaded her apartment.
“They didn’t say who they were. I just told them to get out. They weren’t welcome,” she testified. “I couldn’t see … It was dark in there. … The first thing I heard them to say was to, ‘Tase her.’”
She admitted she had a knife but said she was getting ready to slice up an orange. “I lay in bed, watch TV and eat like that,” she testified.
She also testified that police officers stepped on her oxygen hose after the first attempt to use the Taser on her. “I couldn’t get air,” she said.
She said she thought the police officers were going to kill her when the second Taser was used on her. “I felt it when it hit me,” she said.
Her attorneys said the second officer “pulsed” the Taser three times, shocking her three to five seconds each time. Her attorneys said she suffered large burns on her chest. They said officers also tore the skin on her arms when they took away the knife.


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