Police arrest elderly Alabama woman over unpaid $77 trash bill

[Still Waters]

Police in the US state of Alabama have arrested an 82-year-old woman over an outstanding rubbish bill.

Martha Louis Menefield said she was confused as officers handcuffed her and arrested her on Sunday.

The amount that led to her arrest was reportedly $77.80 (£63.28).

In a statement on Facebook, City of Valley police said they treated Ms Menefield respectfully and that they had notified her several times that she had not paid the bill for three months.

"Ms Menefield was treated respectfully by our officers in the performance of their duties and was released on a bond as prescribed by the violation," said Mike Reynolds, police chief for the City of Valley in Alabama, in the statement, which has drawn significant criticism online.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-63829128

[+and-then]

THAT is outrageous.  Someone should be fired.

[+OverSword]

Arrested?? Don’t they usually stop picking up your trash until you pay up?? Those cops are idiots. Could you imagine cuffing an old woman for this????

[Gromdor]

A bit more on the story:82-year-old Alabama woman arrested for unpaid trash bills (msn.com)

The police didn't do it out of their own discretion but rather because they had a court issued arrest warrant.

Alabama needs to change it's laws, in my opinion.  We've gone a long way since the idea of debtor's prison but in some areas we still regress. 

[+and-then]

20 minutes ago, OverSword said:

Arrested?? Don’t they usually stop picking up your trash until you pay up?? Those cops are idiots. Could you imagine cuffing an old woman for this????

It pizzes me off because it makes my home state seem thuggish AND stupid.  Trust me, these guys are going to rue the day they went full stupid and had their stupid exposed.  I'd fire whoever made the choice to cuff the old lady.  RIDICULOUS and shameful.

Back in the 90s my community (Mobile, AL) instituted an "environmental court" that was responsible for policing neighborhoods where property owners neglected their lawn or lot upkeep.  The grass down here in summer is a BEAST unless we have a drought.  That "court" could serve a summons on the owner if they'd neglected mowing or if they had trash or old vehicles abandoned on their property.  They were mostly lenient but if the owner refused to keep a vacant lot clean and mowed for over 60 days, the city would come in and do it for them and charge them for the service.  If they then refused to pay, they could be arrested.

 

[+and-then]

24 minutes ago, Gromdor said:

A bit more on the story:82-year-old Alabama woman arrested for unpaid trash bills (msn.com)

The police didn't do it out of their own discretion but rather because they had a court issued arrest warrant.

Alabama needs to change it's laws, in my opinion.  We've gone a long way since the idea of debtor's prison but in some areas we still regress. 

Exactly.  Many of the smaller towns and municipalities struggle financially and they depend too much on fees and penalties, so they can become unreasonable in enforcement, but THIS was monumentally stupid.  It sounds like she either couldn't or wouldn't pay the bill on time and they had a process that included issuing a warrant.  That needs to change.  People need to respect the laws but the law needs to respect the realities in the lives of people who struggle financially.  I guess it's possible that this lady had plenty of resources and just chose to ignore her responsibilities but even THEN... cuffing a geriatric is a really bad look.

[Buzz_Light_Year]

Arrested for failure to appear. It really doesn't matter what the offense is.

[+and-then]

7 hours ago, Buzz_Light_Year said:

Arrested for failure to appear. It really doesn't matter what the offense is.

Understood, but the real question I have is why would an octogenarian get a summons over a utility bill?  Dragging any person before a court and risking their liberty over a small amount of money is ridiculous, IMO.  I might think differently if she had no lack of financial resources and was just making some kind of political statement or disrespecting a judge but 77 dollars?  Jail?

I ran afoul of the law ONCE in my life and it was a doozy.  I was arrested for DUI... I was VERY DUI.  I got bail for 1000 dollars and before my legal odyssey was over, I had spent about 5K in fines and court costs and driver's education.  I accepted my responsibility for acting like a selfish idiot and I thank God I didn't harm anyone that night.  I blew a .22 BAC   .08 is legally drunk. 

The part of the experience that stuck with me the most, though, was sitting in court, waiting my turn in front of the judge and listening to the conveyor-belt of legal economics.  There must have been 20+ guys there before me who were back in front of the judge because their "scheduled payments" were in arrears.  Crimes ranged from DUI to improper tag, nothing violence related, but they were just average working joes and couldn't come out of pocket for the entire costs of their conviction and had to pay-as-they-go for the privilege of staying out of a jail cell.   One hell of a sorry system, IMO.

[the13bats]

Oh hell i had no idea you could get arrested for trash bills in that s hole,

[Myles]

Hadn't found any updates on this.    Looks like this was blown up for nothing.   The police handled this well.  

The Alabama police officer who arrested an 82-year-old woman last month for not paying her $77 trash bill can be heard laughing during the encounter in body cam footage released Thursday.

 

“Ms. Menefield, we have a warrant for you,” the Valley officer tells Martha Louis Menefield in body cam video obtained by Law&Crime Network.

 

When the 82-year-old Menefield asks what the warrant is for, the officer replies, “not paying your trash bill.”

 

 

“So you’re going to handcuff me to take me to jail?” Menefield responds. “You’re arresting an 82-year-old woman.”

The incident drew nationwide outrage.

 

 

“I’m sorry, but the law’s the law, Ms. Menefield, the officer says.

 

 

The 82-year-old woman asks to see the warrant when the officer laughs and says, “I’m so serious, it’s a warrant. ... I’m not joking.”

 

 

In the footage, the officer says Menefield got a letter from the city’s code enforcement a month earlier saying she didn’t pay her bill.

 

 

Menefield responds that her daughter handles her bill and that she believed she paid it.

“She screwed you on this one,” the officer says.

 

 

In a social media post, Valley Police Chief Mark Reynolds defended his officers, claiming the department’s hands were tied on whether to handcuff Menefield after a magistrate signed off on her arrest , adding that the 82-year-old woman “was treated respectfully by our officers in the performance of their duties.”

 

 

“While our officers can use their discretionary judgment on certain matters, the enforcement of an arrest warrant issued by the court and signed by a magistrate, is not one of them,” Reynolds said in the Facebook post. “Ms. Menefield was treated respectfully by our officers in the performance of their duties and was released on a bond as prescribed by the violation.”

https://www.al.com/news/2022/12/im-so-serious-laughing-alabama-officer-tells-82-year-old-woman-arrested-for-not-paying-trash-bill.html