Deaf Police Brutality

Police Brutality and Deaf People

“In the last five years There is an unmistakable gap between police officers and the deaf culture. Most states require that all police officers are required to take some training in communicating with deaf people however, there is a gap between the training and what happens in the field. Because many deaf people rely on body language, sight and signs to communicate there is a break in the communication when an officer stops a deaf person. There is a desperate need for a way to better bridge the gap in communication. Officers are supposed to take appropriate measure to communicate effectively with deaf people, either with an interpreter or an auditory device or even just writing out the conversation if necessary. Unfortunately there are too many times where an officer feels threatened by a deaf person because of the signs or gestures made by a deaf person and retaliate before taking the time to understand and realize the person is deaf and only trying to communicate. In this paper I am going to share three different situations where police brutality against a deaf

person could have been avoided.

Then I will discuss how departments can take steps to ensure their officers are aware of deafness in their area and steps that need to be taken to ensure the safety of deaf

people when stopped by an officer.
Before getting into the cases I want to make known that I understand that there are two sides to every story. I have a great respect for officers. In this day and age with the violence against police growing in the last couple years I understand how it would be easy for an officer to go into attack mode when they see a person signing instead of following their every command. As an officer they are probably on defensive mode more often then not and rather protect their own skin then take a minute and understand the situation fully. That however does not give the officers the right to jump to conclusions and assume that every person who signs or gestures to them are out to resist or assault them. That being said there needs to be more awareness of deaf people in the area so officers can be more alert when dealing with a deaf person. There needs to be more training for officers, especially in towns where the deaf population is high, so those officers can think through why a person is gesturing to them and respond accordingly to a deaf person. I also think their needs to be more resources for deaf people within the deaf community so they can be made aware how best to respond to an officer when pulled over as to not cause the situation to be escalated.
One recent case of police brutality against a deaf man happened 2 years ago. Robert Kim, had pulled over to fix a flat. Just after pulling over he fell into a diabetic episode and that is when officer Leah Hall pulled over and asked him what his problem was. Kim was already on the ground when officer Hall arrived on scene, there was no reason for her to assumer that he was a threat except that he didn't verbally respond to her when asked a questioned and started signing and gesturing to her that he was deaf. Kim tried to communicate with the officer that he was deaf, had trouble speaking and was in the middle of a diabetic episode. That's when Hall should have called the paramedics but instead she called for back up. Upon arrival officer “Raney almost immediately, followed by Hall, began to beat and taser Kim for “failing to respond” to their “verbal commands” (Ocala Post). Kim was already on the ground when officer Hall arrived on scene, there was no reason for her to assumer that he was a threat except that he didn't verbally respond to her when asked a questioned and started signing and gesturing to her that he was deaf. Kim after sued the police department, during the investigation it was found that Kim was the second deaf person to be attacked and tased by the same police department in thirty days. The police department dropped all charges against Kim. This is a sad example of how quickly violence can excalade when there is a communication barrier. The fact that Kim was the second deaf person in thirty days to be attacked by the same police department shows that there needs to be more training in that department on the sensitive nature of dealing with a person who is deaf or hard of hearing. In this instance Kim failed to respond to the officers verbal commands simply because he could not hear them. He was not trying to resist the officers but the officers jumped to that conclusion and went into an offensive strategy. In this situation Officer Hall should have taken a minute to try and communicate with Kim a different way, when he didn't automatically answer her question verbally she should have taken that as a hint he didn't understand what she asked him. Since Kim was on the ground already Officer Hall was in no immediate danger, this should have allowed her to try and ask the question different or watch Kim's signs and gestures more carefully to understand what he was trying to say to her. Had she taken that extra couple minuets with him before calling for back up this whole situation could have been avoided. Many will say Kim could have pulled out a card that said he was deaf or written it down however he was in a desperate situation. He was in diabetic shock he couldn't hear what the officer was saying but could probably see and sense the frustration and tension growing in the officer. This probably made his signs a little more dramatic making them come across as angry gestures to the officer. Even if Kim had a card that said he was deaf, one he was on the ground, two he was in diabetic shock and needed a doctor. Had Kim tried to stand up or reach for that card this would have caused the police officer to panic quickly and things could have ended much worse. It is a situation that shows officers need to be more aware of deafness, and not assume that everyone they run into is hearing but instead approach all situations with the idea that the person can be deaf or hard of hearing.
In January there was another case where a deaf man, Pearl Pearson was pulled over by Trooper Eric Foster. When Trooper Foster came to the window he was yelling at Pearson to get out of the car, Pearson was trying to pull out a place card that stated he was deaf but Foster pulled him out of the car and started beating him. The Troopers took Pearson attempt to get his card saying he was deaf and his signs as him resisting arrest and assaulting them. This case is on of the worst I found, once the officers stopped beating Pearson and did a check on license they found out he was deaf and cursed. They knew they acted out of place yet because they were embarrassed by the media they pushed charges against Pearson attempting to claim he was a drug addict but records showed there was no drugs or alcohol in his system. This case not only shows for the need for more training for officers in communicating with deaf people but it also shows how far some officers have been so jaded by the violence in the world that they assume everyone is out to get them. This case also shows how reaching for a place card that says the person is deaf is not always affective because like this case the officers don't give the person the chance to pull it out. Again the Trooper in this case should have seen that Pearson did not understand what was being yelled at him. Officers need to step back and fully observe the situation. This means instead of assuming everyone they come across is hearing they need to analyze the situation and determine if the person is deaf or hard of hearing and then respect their needs for communication.
A third case took place in Hawthorne, California when a deaf man, Johnathan Meister, was brutally beaten by four cops. Meister was picking up some of his belongings from a house he had recently moved out of. A neighbor had tried to call out to Meister, but was unable to get his attention because Meister is deaf. Thats when the neighbor called police for a suspicious person in the neighborhood. Two officers showed up as he was loading his car, they tired to order him to stop but again he could not hear them and they were behind him so he was oblivious to their presence. When he realized they were there he put down the boxes and started trying to communicate with sign language to let them know he is deaf. When he got close enough however the officers grabbed his hand and spun him around to cuff him. Because of “The officers’ sudden aggression, which both caused pain and interfered with his ability to communicate, caused Mr. Meister reflexively to pull his hands away, hop back over the fence and step toward the gate … to create some space so that he could communicate” (Police State USA). Meister was scared and trying to reason with the officers and make them realize he had done nothing wrong and was deaf. Instead of attempting to communicate with Meister the Officers called for back and four Officers beat and tassered him to the ground till he was unconscious and cuffed When taken to the hospital the officers charged him with assaulting the officer because they thought him trying to communicate was “aggressive and violent”. Once they found out he was not only deaf but innocent they dropped the charges. “Meister is now suing the City of Hawthorne, its police department, the police chief, and the 4 officers involved. He is claiming statutory, treble and punitive damages for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act, among other civil rights violations” (Police State USA). This is a case of officers again not taking a step back to understand why someone is not understanding what they are doing. Had they not assumed he was hearing they would have been able to handle this call much different and the violence could have been avoided.
These are just three examples of police brutality against deaf people there are so many stories of deaf people being beaten, tased, cuffed and sadly some killed because they couldn't hear or respond to the officers command. The three cases show how desperately there needs to be more training for officers, not just training on how to communicate with a deaf person but training on how to recognize the signs of someone who can't hear or doesn't understand them. Someone trying to sign to officer that they are deaf will look much different then someone who is just deliberately ignoring an officers commands. Officers need to be more aware of the town they are in and aware that not everyone is hearing, not everyone can see, not everyone has the mental capacity to be able to understand their commands. Because of that officers cannot walk into every call assuming that everyone is hearing. That alone would stop a lot of the violence that comes from a deaf person not being able to follow their commands. With that I believe that there needs to be a connection between the deaf community and the police departments. That might be a lecture that the departments do for the deaf a video that is put out by different departments or even making an appearance at a deaf convention. This would allow the officers to have a better understanding of the deaf culture and how to better to respond to a call when the person is deaf. This would also allow the deaf community to see that not every time they see an officer they are going to beat. An officers job is to server and protect the people in their community, that includes the deaf people in their community. Officers can't serve and protect them if they jump to the conclusion that everyone in their community is hearing. As for people in the deaf community there needs to be more resources for them to better understand how to react when confronted by an officer. There are few videos on you tube for the deaf community and some for an officer are on how to communicate with a deaf person. The problem with these videos is that they are set up for the perfect scenario where the officer doesn't jump to a conclusion that they are hearing and standing up against they commands. In conclusion there needs to be more training nation wide for officers on how to recognize when someone is deaf and trying to express that. There needs to be a bridge created between law enforcement and the deaf community.