CLEARWATER, Florida. - January 21, 2008 -  A 75-year-old woman was arrested at a Clearwater McDonald's drive-thru, because police say she wouldn't pull her car forward.

Authorities said Jean Merola, a grandmother of eight, was arrested for disorderly conduct after she refused an officer's orders to move her car while she waited for the coffee and fries she ordered at the drive-through window.

Merola said the McDonald's employees told her to wait there for her food.

Merola was handcuffed behind her back and put in the cruiser.

Another officer arrived and took her to the Pinellas County Jail.

Merola said she was searched, photographed and fingerprinted.

Jail records show she was released about 90 minutes later on her own recognizance.

Please call today and voice your outrage at this clear police-state tactic and citizen abuse!

Chief of Police Sid Klein
Clearwater Police Department
727-562-4420