Ethel Waters, an 86 year old great-grandmother from Monroe, Louisiana, was pepper-sprayed by police upon exiting the public restroom at her local Wal-Mart store. Her crime? Shoplifting adult diapers.
Waters was standing in line for the doors to open at midnight on Black Friday when, unable to control her bladder, soiled her adult diaper. The great-grandmother had her sights set on a Nintendo Wii for Julius, her 5 year old great-grandson. Unfortunately for Waters, she had left her diapers in her car. Not wanting to lose her place in line, she endured the wet diaper. As midnight approached, Waters was verbally berated by fellow shoppers for “stinking like piss.”
Once Wal-Mart’s doors opened at midnight, Waters made a bee-line for the Nintendo Wii. Unable to keep up with the crowd, Waters was barely able to grab the last Wii. Much to her consternation, Waters was harassed by several fellow shoppers for taking the last of the game consoles. One morbidly obese woman in an electric scooter referred to Waters as a “stinky old piss bag.” Humiliated, Waters went to the pharmacy section to buy some adult diapers. The shopper in the scooter followed her.
Waters grabbed a box of adult diapers and took them into the restroom with her, along with the Wii. The woman in the scooter alerted a nearby female police officer that Waters was shoplifting merchandise. Once Waters had exited the bathroom, the police officer noted that the box of diapers had been opened. When Waters was asked if she had shoplifted a diaper, she started to “get defensive” according to the police report. Unresponsive to the question, the police officer hit Waters with pepper spray. Once on the ground, the officer reached under Waters’ skirt and removed her diaper as evidence. Waters was handcuffed and is being held on $5,000 bail. While being escorted out of the store, witnesses claim that Waters kept screaming that she was going to pay for the diapers as a trail of urine followed her out of the store.
Calls to Wal-Mart in regards to this incident were not returned.