Florida grandmother, 95, arrested for slapping granddaughter in face with slipper, police say

Hattie Reynolds, 95, was arrested after she slapped her granddaughter in the face with a slipper, police said. (Volusia County Corrections)

A 95-year-old grandmother called police for help getting her granddaughter out of bed, but wound up in handcuffs after she slapped the 46-year-old woman in the face with a slipper during an argument, officials said.

Hattie Reynolds was arrested on Saturday after calling the cops to say she was sick of her granddaughter, Janeen Williams, lounging around in her bed in an air-conditioned Daytona Beach home Reynolds pays for. The 5-foot grandmother had called the non-emergency number.

“I got a gran in my bed and I can’t...get her out from my bed,” Reynolds told the dispatcher, according to Daytona News-Journal. “I ain’t got nothing to pay bill on air condition all the time for her to go into the room.”

Reynolds added: “She won’t get out of my bed. I want her out of the bed, I don’t want to get myself in trouble...'cause she don’t listen after me.”

The grandmother said her granddaughter was “screaming and swearing at her.” The argument escalated when Reynolds yelled back, then took the slipper she had on and smacked Williams in the face, the report stated.

Reynolds told cops she had slapped her granddaughter, who refused to give a statement to police and said she didn’t want to press charges. The 95-year-old was taken into custody because of the state’s strict domestic violence law that require police to arrest the individual.

“Under the law domestic violence is a very serious offense and officers’ hands are tied,” Daytona Beach Police Chief Craig Capri told Daytona News-Journal. “Discretion is taken away from them by the law.”

Reynolds was released on her own recognizance a day later.