65-Year-Old Woman Tased After Traffic Stop Escalates Over $80 Ticket

Debra Hamil, 65, on the ground after fighting Cashion Police Department officer. Screenshot from video via Cashion Police Department/CNN

A police officer tased a 65-year-old woman as she resisted arrest after she refused to sign an $80 ticket during a traffic stop in Oklahoma for a broken tail light.

Authorities released bodycam footage of the incident to local media on July 31, after charging Debra Hamil with assault and battery on a police officer—a felony—and resisting an officer, reported WGBA-TV.

The footage shows Hamil kicking the officer when he pulls her out of the car and tries to arrest her following a confrontation in which she refuses to sign for a ticket, and then refuses to step out of her truck.

The incident occurred on July 16 when a police officer pulled Hamil over in her brown truck in the small town of Cashion, about 10 miles from Oklahoma City.

In the video, the officer tells Hamil that she has to pay an $80 fine for her broken tail light, telling her she has been driving with the broken light for 6 months.

She refuses to sign.

“Well I don’t want to sign because I don’t want to do $80,“ Hamil says in the video. ”I don’t think that I deserve to pay $80 for something that is fixable and I can fix it.”

The officer then asks her to exit the truck. “Why?” she asks. “Because you are under arrest,” the officers responds.

But Hamil doesn’t comply, repeatedly refused to exit her vehicle, and at one point tells the officer, “You are full of [expletive] because you’re not placing me under arrest.”

Eventually, she agrees to sign the ticket, saying, “Oh shut up and give me that and I'll sign it.” But the officer says, “we’re beyond that.”

Hamil then drives off, and the officer gives chase. According to WGBA-TV, about 5 minutes later, the officer catches up with her.

He can be seen in the video drawing his sidearm, pointing, and continuing to tell Hamil to get out of the car.

Cashion, Oklhahoma Screenshot/Google Maps

He eventually pulls her out of the truck, and puts her on the ground, but as he attempts to handcuff her, she resists, kicking him away with her feet.

“I said leave me alone and I mean it,” Hamil tells the officer.

The officer then steps back, draws a taser, and shoots it at Hamil, who falls to the ground screaming. But her defiant spirit is not quelled. He asks her to put her hands behind her back three times, but she doesn’t comply, saying that she is going to stand up.

“No, you will not ... You’re gonna get it again,” the officer says in the video.

“You did not have to taser me,” Hamil said about 20 minutes into the video, which has been edited down from a total of 58 minutes provided by the police, according to NBC.

“You wouldn’t comply,” the officer responded. “You wouldn’t get out and then you tried to kick me. So yes, I did.”

“Yeah, I tried to kick you because I’m a country girl,” Hamil says. “Because no, I didn’t like being thrown on the floor.”

The charge of assault and battery on a police officer is a felony that carries a minimum sentence of 5 years or a fine of $5,000 in the state of Oklahoma.

Hamil has not responded to media requests for comment. According to CNN, she has pleaded not guilty.

The Cashion Police Department said in a statement to NBC that the video was released as part of an Open Records Act request. The department said it does not comment on pending criminal cases.

“This policy is based upon fundamental fairness and the pursuit of justice so that the matters can be resolved in the court forum instead of in the forum of public opinion,” the statement said.