Grandmother goes to jail, everyone forgets about her

Unfortunately, as a society, we often forget about our elders. Sometimes it’s forgetting to call your grandmother every now and then or not noticing an elderly woman who could use a seat on the train. And other times it’s leaving a 78-year-old woman in jail for a traffic violation 15 days because you forgot about her.

A 78-year-old Hallandale Beach grandmother ticketed for driving with a suspended driver’s license spent 15 days in jail before authorities announced her license wasn’t suspended and an outraged judge set her free.

County Court Judge Lee J. Seidman ordered Gabrielle Shaink Trudeau’s release in December at her arraignment.

“She’s handcuffed like Houdini, for the record. She’s got chains around her waist, and she’s got handcuffs in front around her hands as if she was some kind of a violent criminal,” the judge said, according to a transcript. “I want her released. I think she’s suffered enough at our system’s mistakes.”

Safeguards built into Broward’s judicial system are designed to prevent what happened to Shaink Trudeau. But the prolonged jailing of an elderly woman with no previous criminal record over a traffic ticket has left red-faced authorities admitting they botched her case.

“It was almost like she was invisible. I deeply apologize to this woman,” said Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein.

No wonder Jay Leno’s ratings were so abysmal that NBC had to move him from his time slot. He probably lost 30% of his audience from this woman being jailed for so long.

[S]ix weeks after the warrant [for driving with a suspended license] was issued, three brawny Broward Sheriff’s deputies arrested Shaink Trudeau in her kitchen.

“They came on real strong, like I had killed somebody or something,” she said.

That makes sense. There isn’t a lot of crime going in Florida anyway. Not like it’s a huge drug port or leading state in domestic violence and murder. By stopping this 78-year-old woman from driving poorly out on the streets, these police officers really made a difference. That’ll learn her for living long enough to make people around her feel uncomfortable about their mortality.

[Miami Herald]

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