Have you demonstrated a poor attitude – “defiant” or “disrespectful,” as Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg put it at a March 31 press conference – when confronted by an officer of the law? If so, perhaps the Tasing you get is your own damn fault – for the most part, anyway. According to Lehmberg, a Travis County grand jury has declined to indict Deputy Constable Christopher Bieze for his actions during a traffic stop on Highway 71 last spring. That stop, of then-72-year-old Kathryn Winkfein for speeding in a construction zone, made national headlines – and a video of the incident went viral – when Winkfein got testy and refused to sign the citation. When she wouldn’t relent and said she was going to get back into her pickup truck, Bieze grabbed and pushed her before drawing his Taser and firing, dropping Winkfein to the ground on the side of the road (and then yelling at her to “put your hands behind your back or you’re going to get Tased again” – as if she could so easily move after being shot full of electricity). The grand jury considered the video and heard testimony from Bieze and Winkfein before concluding that Bieze had not violated any criminal statutes and issuing a no-bill. That decision doesn’t mean Bieze couldn’t have used better discretion – and the same could be said of Winkfein. “For both,” said Lehmberg, “some measure of self-restraint would have avoided this painful and embarrassing incident.”
This article appears in April 9 • 2010.