US: Woman, 82, from Alabama gets arrested over $77 unpaid trash bill; cops' action triggers outrage

An 82-year-old woman in the US state of Alabama was arrested by the police over her unpaid trash bills amounting to $77.The elderly woman, Martha Louis Menefield, said she failed to understand anything as the police officers suddenly visited her, handcuffed her and arrested her for a petty amount of $77.80.

City of Valley police, in its Facebook post, said that Menefield was treated respectfully by the police and that she was notified several times that payment of her bill for three months remains pending.

The City of Valley in Alabama's police chief Mike Reynolds said, "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.”

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The comments section was flooded with people from Alabama and the rest of the United States denouncing the police department for their actions.

"Everybody who played a role in arresting this 82-year-old Valley, Alabama resident must be held accountable for their actions," the state's former attorney Donald Watkins wrote.

Menefield, in an interview with CBS News, said that her first reaction when she saw two officers arriving at her door last Sunday was laughter.

On seeing the officers, she asked, "You're not kidding?". However, on learning that the police were actually there to arrest her over the pending bills, the old lady said, "I was upset because I didn't know why they would come and arrest me."

One of the officers, after the handcuffs were locked, "kind of whispered it to me: 'Don't cry'", she said. Menefield, recalling the incident, said that she told the officer, “How would you feel if they came and arrested your grandmama?"

After the arrest, the police took her to the Valley police department where she was temporarily held before being released on bond.

"I was in a little cage-like thing at the police station. And I said, 'Y'all put me in this cage? You ought to be ashamed of yourself,” Menefield said.

Meanwhile, police chief Reynolds, in his Facebook post, stated that Menefield was contacted several times by the city officials about her unpaid bills.

He added that a citation was received by her for the unpaid bills in August and that the code enforcement department of the city "tried to call Ms Menefield several times and attempted to contact her in person at her residence."

Reynolds further narrated how a notice was left by the officials on her door which had the contact information and an advisory that she needs to appear in court in September.

"A warrant for Failure to Pay Trash was issued when she did not appear in court," said Reynolds, adding that in the past two years, Menefield's trash services have been suspended three times.

Menefield said that she is unaware of the unpaid bills in question and that no notice was sent to her to appear in court.

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