Grandmother, 75, Gets Cuffs, Not Fries
Tampa Bay Online
updated 7:40 a.m. CT, Sun., Jan. 20, 2008
By Carlos Moncada of The Tampa Tribune
CLEARWATER - If anyone was "lovin' it!" at the McDonald's that Jean Merola visited Thursday evening, it certainly wasn't her.
The 75-year-old grandmother of eight was arrested for disorderly conduct after she refused a police officer's orders to move her car while she waited for the coffee and fries she ordered at the drive-through window.
"Isn't that terrible?'' she said from her Clearwater home Saturday. "Oh my goodness, here I am, a poor little innocent woman waiting for my French fries.''
Merola had pulled her Lincoln Town Car to an area where drive-up customers are directed if their orders will take some time. She ordered her fries without salt.
While waiting, a Clearwater police officer pulled up behind her and started honking his horn, she said. He was also waving his arms, apparently signaling for her to move her car, she said.
It was not immediately clear why the officer was at the McDonald's
She stayed put, so Officer Matthew Parco, 30, got out and walked over to her car and asked for her license and registration. Words were exchanged and after a brief altercation, she was handcuffed behind her back and put in the cruiser, according to Merola and an arrest affidavit.
Another officer arrived and took her to the Pinellas County Jail, where she was booked for misdemeanor disorderly conduct. Merola said she was searched, photographed and fingerprinted. She was released about 90 minutes later on her own recognizance, jail records show.
"My shoulder hurt me so bad that night," said Merola, who said she was just getting over pneumonia. "My shoulder and my arms and both of my hands were all swollen. When you're older you can't take that. That's when you're a young person, to put up with that. And it was uncalled for.''
The arrest affidavit states that Merola's car was partially blocking the drive-through lanes. Parco wrote that he asked her three times to move her car forward a foot to allow cars behind her to pass.
After refusing, Merola yelled at Parco for about 20 minutes, calling him a "brat,'' a "smart a--,'' and a "dumb----,'' according to the affidavit.
Merola, a widow and 43-year resident of Clearwater, made no apologies for her conduct. She said she could not move her car forward as the officer wanted because a curb was in front of her. She denies that she was blocking anyone.
"He's the one that blocked the traffic," she said. "Because he parked there where he wasn't supposed to park.''
As for swearing, "I got upset because he honked his horn at me,'' Merola said. "You know, it's only normal for you to get upset when somebody honks a horn at you when you're not doing anything.''
Merola said Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard called her Saturday morning to offer an apology.
"He says, "I am so sorry Mrs. Merola, this should never have happened."
Neither Hibbard nor Clearwater police were immediately available to comment.
The personnel at the jail also were sympathetic, Merola said. She didn't have to go in a cell with other inmates and didn't have to put on the yellow jumpsuit they wear, she said.
"They were very, very nice to me,'' she said. "When I was in there, they were just all shaking their heads. And I didn't get to eat my McDonald's, you know? So they gave me a sandwich. But I couldn't eat it.''