driving while deaf can be a dangerous thing, especially if cops become involved;
When police in Idaho Springs, Colo., saw a vehicle roll through a stop sign on a September evening in 2019, they followed it into a laundromat’s parking lot and turned on their flashing lights.
The driver, Brady Mistic, parked his car and stepped out of the vehicle.
He later said he did not understand what was happening, or even that he was being pulled over — Mistic is deaf and communicates primarily through American Sign Language.
In the confusion, the situation escalated. According to a new lawsuit filed by Mistic, the officers threw him to the ground, stunned him with a Taser and put him in handcuffs. Unable to fully communicate, he tried to use some of the few words he is able to speak: “No ears.” It seemed to make no difference.
After the encounter, Mistic was charged with resisting arrest and assault on a police officer. He was jailed for four months, during which time he said he continued to struggle to communicate the misunderstanding. The charges were later dropped.
Two years after the incident, Mistic has filed the lawsuit against the city of Idaho Springs and the two officers involved, alleging excessive force, unlawful arrest, malicious prosecution and discrimination against a person with a disability. The suit also accuses Clear Creek County of failing to properly accommodate his disability in jail.
“This is a civil rights action seeking justice for the shocking use of unnecessary police force and wrongful incarceration of a deaf man whom the Defendant officers rashly attacked after failing to recognize his disability and misinterpreting his non-threatening attempts to see and comunicate as challenges to police authority,” the lawsuit states.
In a statement, the Idaho Springs Police Department said the two officers, Nicholas Hanning and Ellie Summers, did not know Mistic was deaf. The department said the police chief had reviewed the incident and found the officers acted appropriately in the situation.
Of course the chief found that they acted appropriately. They’re geniuses, one and all. Top IQ, cops are. Top boys and girls.
All of their procedures are perfect, the cops are smart, and it’s customary to slam people around.
Some folks, like this chief, still tell fairy tales like little children are listening. And others love to hear them, like for example, if you vote for Mitt Romney, or write at the National Review and consider yourself a “law and order” type...........https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/police-arrested-a-man-who-didn-t-comply-with-their-commands-that-s-because-he-is-deaf-a-new-lawsuit-says/ar-AAORRxU?ocid=msedgntp
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