LEE COUNTY, Fla. — A 91-year-old woman suffered burns and bruises after she was handcuffed during a traffic stop earlier this month in her own driveway.
A Lee County sheriff’s deputy pulled over Dorothy Friedenreich Aug. 17 for failing to stop at a stop sign, WINK reported. She pulled over into her driveway. She was upset and tried to walk away when the deputy issued her a ticket. The deputy then physically detained and handcuffed her. She was also prohibited from calling her husband who was just inside the house.
“He handcuffed me with these red hot handcuffs. He burned my arms they were bleeding. The blood was all over my driver’s license,” Friedenreich told WINK. “He was mad because he thought I was running away from him. He took my two arms and he pushed them behind my back until I was screaming ‘Help; help; you’re killing me, you’re killing me’ and I’m crying.”
Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno was irate and disappointed. Marceno said Friedenreich reminded him of his 92-year-old grandmother after meeting her and offering a personal apology and a personal check to pay the fines associated with the citations.
“I was sickened,” Marceno said. “And, if this had happened to (my grandmother), words would not express how I feel and what I would want to say or do.”
Marceno said the deputy did not use common sense or compassion. He said all deputies will undergo additional training because of the incident.
The deputy involved has been placed on administrative leave pending the internal affairs investigation. The deputy, who has not been identified, has no previous use of force or citizen complaints, Marceno said.
Friedenreich is a philanthropist who started a charity “Music for Minors” which has given out more than 300 musical instruments and nine college scholarships to children in need, WINK reported last year.
“I’m 91 years old and I’ve never... I’ve only gotten one ticket in my whole life,” she said.