An 82-year-old Alabama grandmother was handcuffed and arrested for not paying a trash bill that she says she didn’t know was past due.
Martha Louis Menefield said she was embarrassed by the incident and glad her grandchildren did not see her being detained by law enforcement.
Valley Police Department Chief Mike Reynolds said officers arrested Menefield on Nov. 27 for “Failure to Pay-Trash” for an outstanding bill for June, July and August totaling $77.80. The woman says she believed the invoice had already been paid, and she was not aware of the arrest warrant.
The city said in a statement that Valley code enforcement officers issued Menefield a citation in August. It required her to appear in court on Sept. 7, but Menefield said she didn’t know, and since she missed the court date, the warrant was issued for her arrest.
However, officials said they attempted to contact her by phone and other means, even leaving a door hanger at her home.
“Are you Martha Menefield?” one officer said, according to the elderly woman.
When she replied in the affirmative, he said, “Well, Ms. Martha, I got to arrest you.”
This is the second time Menefield has been arrested for not paying her trash bill. The first was in 2006, when she was hit with a $206.54 invoice. The case was later dismissed “upon compliance.” Since then, she has had 22 “incidents” where the trash services were either suspended or revoked, making this a chronic issue between her and the trash service debt collectors.
Although she was released on bond, many believe, including her daughter Neketti Tucker, the senior citizen should not have been arrested and taken to jail, CBS 2 reveals. Handcuffing her, the daughter said, criminalized someone who was not a criminal.
“This isn’t a criminal act,” Tucker said. “This is civil, if anything.”
