A 70-year-old US woman has been left bruised and bloody after an unexpected clash with police who came to caution her for not watering her lawn.

US woman arrested over dry lawn
A 70-year-old US woman has been left bruised and bloody after an unexpected clash with police who came to caution her for not watering her lawn.

Trouble flared when Utah pensioner Betty Perry, 70, refused to give her name after being upbraided because her garden breached local regulations.

She says the officer hit her with handcuffs, cutting her nose, although police insist she slipped and fell.

Ms Perry said she was "distraught" after the incident.

“ He's just trying to cover his tracks, as far as I'm concerned ”
Betty Perry

She denied accusations she was resisting arrest, maintaining that she only turned to go inside to call her son to fix the confusing dispute.

"I tried to sit down and get away from him [the police officer]," she told Utah newspaper the Daily Herald.

"I don't know what he's doing. I said: 'What are you doing?' And he hit me with those handcuffs in my face," she said.

"He's just trying to cover his tracks, as far as I'm concerned."

Set free

The officer had judged that Ms Perry's "sadly neglected and dying landscape" breached an Orem city guideline and was attempting to issue a formal caution when the 70-year-old was injured.

She was treated in a local hospital for the cut to her nose and for other bruises before being taken to jail.

But she was let go when police realised there were "other ways" of finding out her identity without jailing her, a police spokesman said

The arresting officer has not been named but has been placed on administrative leave, he added.

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Comment by Anti Oligarch on November 5, 2010 at 8:11am: He took the old lady to jail to make her give her name, what sick individuals are we employing to "protect" us hmm?

Comment by Tara on September 14, 2010 at 10:06am: Unbelievable! What kind of sick bastard do you have to be to want to rough up a 70 year old lady? Talk about hiding behind a badge and being a down right coward. When will this neandrathal behavior quit being tolerated?

On a side note, a couple of nights ago I was on my way home from work and needed to stop at the gas station to pick up some oil. I was doing my thing, checking to see if I needed to add more oil and all of a sudden I hear this mans voice behind me asking me if I needed any help. I hadn't turned around to see who it was at that point, I was trying to get the dipstick back in and was fumbling around a bit because it was dark. And then the man asked me if I needed a light and being the stubborn woman I am at times I said no....that's alright, I've got it. Then I turned around and to my surprise it was a police officer that wanted to help out a damsel in distress being me, not that I was but I thought, how nice....there are some really good cops out there in the world still. It left me with a little more hope than I had before after hearing about all the horror stories people have had with cops.