Police Beat, Stun Deaf Man After Confusing Sign Language With Threatening Gestures

CBSLA.com) ^ | February 17, 2014 11:32 PM

[null and void]

What? No shoot the dog???

[grumpygresh]

They are just dumb cops that can’t read or write. That will be their defense.

[thatjoeguy]

Uh, threatening gestures? They Stunned him for threatening gestures?

Wow, what were they afraid of? Someone might see?

[Carry_Okie]

What would you think of a guy coming up to you with his index finger pointing to his open mouth?

If I had seen a couple of dozen PSAs describing the gesture I would think he was deaf.

Aside from wearing a patch on clothing stating that ‘I Am Deaf’, which is demeaning in and of itself, there isn’t much I can do except point to my hearing aid when in a public situation, like at a cashier’s station waiting to pay for something. That seems to be the only way to communicate that I can’t hear well.............

Sounds like good reason for a public service advertising campaign about a universal gesture.

[skinkinthegrass]

"can't read/write"& think..that's the reason "for-the-no knot-entry" raids (shock & awe),
the Amer. ppl. are smarter..except during the last general election.

[Don W]

You want to talk about “overstaffed”?

The municipality next to where I live had, on a public trail: two cops on bikes on the trail, two cruisers at a road where the trail crosses, and 4 cops on foot stopping folks and handing out $138. fines to every cyclist not wearing helmets!

There are only 100K folks paying the salaries of the above mentioned cops, at $80K + per year each.

If we have so little actual crime that we have manpower enough for such petty enforcement of a ludicrous “law”, we have FAR and away too many thugs with badges on the street.

[Don W]

not wearing A helmet. OOPS

[Fire_on_High]

It would also help in medical emergencies, tho perhaps one of the medic-alert bracelets wouldn’t hurt either.

[TADSLOS]

Back in the day, when I read one of these headlines, I just figured it was about some police state nightmare unfolding in a foreign 3rd world dictatorship s*#thole. Not anymore. Land of the Free...Home of the Brave...now, pretty much a myth.

[AmusedBystander]

Another easy way to fix it would be for cops not to just automatically beat the shit out of people for no reason.

Post of the day!

[dirtymac]

Gulag

Gestapo

What is wrong with these people? Put them in a uniform and give them a gun and everything changes.

[Revelation 911]

The situation deteriorated from there

huh - color me surprised the police didn't de-escalate the situation as is the normal case / sarc

[familyop]

"Only thing missing from this story is a dead dog."

The War on Humans
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWcEYYj_-rg

[familyop]

"The people who sign should work out an arrangement for the equivalent of a "9-1-1" sign and a "I am deaf" sign that would be taught to the public in general by public service advertising."

And the deaf/mute will be required to get on their knees before flashing the sign? Or be required by law to wear a flashing sign? Or required to have a special ID card on them at all times? Or be microchipped?

Many assume that deaf people in general are weak, easy to bother and won't get revenge for justice--not a wise assumption.

[familyop]

There are the proper signs as posted by Red Badger in comment #21. It's a responsibility of police everywhere to be good public servants in allowing for and understanding those simple signs and at least having pencil and paper ready (pencil less than four inches long for cowards). There's no reason for anyone to assume that those signs are aggressive moves to cause bodily harm.

[familyop]

Too many oral boards have been hiring candidates who say that they want to be “police officers,” “because” they “want to see some action.” That’s a public corruption flag, and the Public Integrity Section of the Justice Dept. will, sooner or later, start doing its job again in putting the corrupt in federal prisons.

[Organic Panic]

Gestures are threatening? Who is hired as police officers who are threatened by a gesture? There was a story a while back some little kid wasbeaten and arrested for a “threatening look.” People still trust police? I sure don’t.

[Carry_Okie]

And the deaf/mute will be required to get on their knees before flashing the sign?

Drop the delusional paranoia. I described something voluntary.

[Carry_Okie]

Too many oral boards have been hiring candidates who say that they want to be “police officers,” “because” they “want to see some action.”

Having actually researched the topic, as opposed to knee-jerk hyperbole, I suggest you refrain from such instruction.

[Carry_Okie]

There are the proper signs as posted by Red Badger in comment #21.

It didn't work. That means the system could be improved. I'm not excusing the police in this case; they belong in jail, and impoverished. Nevertheless, the deaf could do a better job than expecting everybody else to research and learn to read their signs. PSA advertising of at most two or three emergency signals would go a long way to improving their situation. It's up to them to come up with the signals.