65-year-old Oklahoma woman tased after fleeing police when she refused to sign a ticket

(CNN) — An Oklahoma woman who was pulled over for a broken taillight refused to accept an $80 ticket and instead yelled at the officer, drove away from the scene and later struggled with him, according to police bodycam footage and court documents.

The officer ended up firing his taser at the 65-year-old woman and ultimately handcuffed her on the ground.

“You did not have to taser me,” the woman says afterward, while sitting in the back seat of a police vehicle.

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

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

The woman, Debra Hamil, now faces a charge of misdemeanor resisting arrest as well as a felony charge of battery or assault and battery on a police officer for allegedly kicking him in the groin, according to Kingfisher County documents. She has pleaded not guilty.

Police bodycam video of the July 16 incident in Cashion, Oklahoma, was provided to CNN affiliate KOCO. Cashion Police did not respond to a request for comment, citing department policy not to comment on cases in which criminal charges are pending.

Hamil did not respond to several requests for comment via text, voicemail and email. It’s not clear whether she has a lawyer. She made her initial court appearance on July 17. Her next court appearance is scheduled for August 27.

What the video shows

The interaction begins when Officer Charles Missinne pulls Hamil over for a broken taillight, which she says has been out for about six months. She says she hasn’t bought a new taillight because she is planning to buy a whole new bed for the truck soon.

The officer then writes her a ticket for defective equipment for $80, and she grows agitated.

“So you don’t even give a warning for this?” she says.

“You’ve been driving around for six months like that,” he responds. “I’m not going to give you a warning for something you’ve been driving for six months.”

He asks her to sign the ticket, but she refuses.

“I don’t think that I deserve to pay $80 for something that is fixable and I can fix it, if that’s all you want me to do,” she says.

The officer then orders her to step out of the car, but she refuses. After repeated refusals, their conversation turns more tense when he says she is under arrest.

The woman locks her door and rolls up her car window, before briefly rolling it back down to say, “You be fair with me and I’ll be fair with you,” she says, her voice rising.

“You are full of s*** because you’re not placing me under no damn arrest,” she says.

She tells the officer to “shut up” and says she’ll sign the ticket, but he says it’s too late and orders her out of the car. She then drives away, and the officer gets into his vehicle and gives chase for several minutes.

She pulls over, and he takes out his firearm and points it at her, ordering her to get out of the car, and she still refuses. He puts his weapon away, opens her vehicle door and pulls her out of the vehicle and pushes her onto the ground.

“Leave me alone!” she yells.

He tells her to put her hands behind her back, and she refuses.

She then rolls over onto her back, aims her foot at his groin and he backs away from her.

It’s not clear from the video whether contact was made. Court documents accuse her of “unlawfully kicking Charles Missinne on or about the groin with the defendant’s foot,” but later the officer and Hamil say she “tried” to kick him.

“I said leave me alone and I mean it,” she says.

He pulls out his taser and fires at her, leaving her yelping in pain. Missinne says in an affidavit that he tased her a second time, but it’s unclear from the video if that happened. Finally, he handcuffs her as she lies on the ground and calls for emergency services.

“Do you realize you just got yourself in a whole lot more trouble?” he says.

He and others on scene help her get up and place her in a police vehicle, and he asks her why she took off. She says it’s because she knew he would arrest her. Later, she tells him he did not have to use his taser on her. He responds by saying “you wouldn’t comply, you wouldn’t get out…and then you tried to kick me.” That’s when she says she tried to kick him because she’s a “country girl.”

“And you got tased because of it,” he says. “Next time, listen to what I’m telling you to do. You’re the one who escalated this. All you had to do was sign, you would have been on your way.”

“Sign an $80 ticket that I had no business of even getting,” she says.