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Police arrest 82-year-old Alabama woman over unpaid $77 trash bill

Police arrest 82-year-old Alabama woman over unpaid $77 trash bill

In a statement on Facebook, City of Valley police said they treated Ms Menefield respectfully and that they had notified her several times that she had not paid the bill for three months.

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“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,” said Mike Reynolds, police chief for the City of Valley in Alabama, in the statement, which has drawn significant criticism online.

But when the police explained that he was indeed there to arrest her over the unpaid bill, Ms Menefield said, “I was upset because I didn’t know why they would come and arrest me.”

He said that she had received a citation in August for the unpaid bills, and that the city’s code enforcement department “tried to call Ms Menefield several times and attempted to contact her in person at her residence.”

Officials left a notice on her door, Mr Reynolds said, providing contact information and an advisory that she was required to appear in court in September.

“A warrant for Failure to Pay Trash was issued when she did not appear in court,” Mr Reynolds said, adding that Ms Menefield also had her trash services suspended three times in the past two years.

Ms Menefield told CBS News that she did not know the bill in question had not been paid, and that she had never received a notice to appear in court.

Original Story on: Citi Newsroom
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