[justshutupandtakeit]

Sickening but typical.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Or, we could deny driver's licences to those who can't pass the test in English.

[IYAS9YAS]

"Did not understand English."

So, ignorance of the language allowable in the ignorance of the law? What a flipping joke. Do you think Mexico would return the favor if they caught an American, who didn't speak Spanish, driving drunk?

[BeAllYouCanBe]

" Prosecutors are relying on a strict interpretation of the law, arguing that police have complied if they read drivers their rights in English. "

There is no other arguement that is needed -- but there are liberals who would moan about 155 languages spoken by every officer -- just not enough.

[jern]

good read.

[RussianConservative]

"I was scared," Pineda said through an interpreter in an interview last week. "I was trying to do what he wanted, but I didn't understand."

Who make mistake? When I live in Germany, I work hard to learn German...so I not become some stupid foreigner. This silly...besides, why not have picture book to explain to illiterate idiots how it work? Besides, ignorance of language not excuse for breaking law, especially law of common sense.

[blanknoone]

The only way to remedy the problem, he said, is to close the language gap, which the patrol is trying to accomplish with intensive Spanish classes and recruiting of bilingual troopers. I can think of at least one other way: English as the national language. Even the 'remedy' he suggests is not a remedy. Are you going to have quinitilingual troopers? What about Chinese immigrants? Brazilians? Russians? Kazahks? Vietnamese? Our officials can't speak every language on the planet...but we can mandate they speak ours here.

[brownsfan]

When are we going to figure out that part of what built this country, part of what made us great is that we had a common language?
I served in the Navy. We had Filipinos in the U.S. Navy. They are good people. But, at meals they would sit together and speak Tagalic. Human nature, being what it is, we didn't trust them. They could sit next to you and call you names, and you'd never know.
And this article, a practical example of why we need to adhere to a common language. Speak English, or go elsewhere!

[wi jd]

Too bad for the prosecutors but even non English speaking citizens are protected by the 4th Amendment prohibiting unreasonable search and seizure.

The Police cannot jump to the PBT, they must first establish probable cause through the Field Sobriety Tests. If the driver cannot understand English, then how can he follow the instructions for the officer to say the driver failed the FST?

Perhaps we should make it a crime for a person not to speak English. Then we wouldn't have to worry about the silly Constitutional protections.

Flame suit on.

[Apogee]

How about a digitally recorded rights in a bunch of languages, or at least three or four (with a test of some appropriate phrase to see what language they respond to?). Course that would be more purchases. How about a bilingual dispatcher, instead of every officer, just one available on call to read them there rights. Or put the tape recorder at the station, one tape recorder, no salary.
Do wonder how they passed the test.

[RippleFire]

bump

[blackdog]

No assets, no insurance, no resources for bail, no equity in a home, no means to pay legal costs. This is not the type of criminal that our system will accept.

I would say a whole lot of Chapel Hill residents have an equal protection argument if their Spanish is good.

[Hegemony Cricket]

bump for later reference

[Tacis]

Nah, this s just one of those activist judges who wants Mexican criminals driving around drunk so long as it is on your street. Long, long before we had the technology, cops were getting convictions with testimony that said, "his gait was unsteady, his speech was slurred, and he smelled of alcohol." That should have been enough!

Of course, the illegal had no insurance and no license. The law should be changed to make both violations jailable and the guy should be deported so this dumb judge won't free him or the next 100 drunk Mexicans, either.

[Gritty]

This article and what it reveals isn't funny in the least!

[Old Professer]

Bolding the statistic that Hispanics are twice as likely to be involved in accidents and 31/2 times as likely to be arrested for DWI as though that ought to be astonishing just ignores the often ignored fact that everybody seems to forget that the average immigrant from the south is not the average pillar of society up here on vacation.

Face it, we get the failures, not the successes.

As far as police officers learning to speak their language is concerned, if that is what it takes to get a conviction then they need do it.

[1Old Pro]

The solution is simple, all cops need their very own translator to ride with them. This of course would raise taxes by billions, but that's never been an obstacle to promoting diversity and multiculturalism.

[DeathAngel]

pinging authors of books about Mexicans that can do no wrong in the future....oops, sorry, not fiction anymore, just real world events.

[swarthyguy]

The madness of America.

The BiLingual lobby and those idiots who claim that English immersion is bad for new immigrants and their children should look to Quebec.



WHy do we allow nonEnglish speakers to take drivers licenses test in languages other than English is beyond me.

And with Clinton's order requiring the federales to communicate with people in the language they choose, rather than English is madness, too.

Wonder if I can use this?

[DeathAngel]

It seems the judge has forgotten other decisions that have stated that ignorance of English or the law is no excuse.

Perhaps now those against making English the national language might have second thoughts.

"Your honor, my client shot the homeowner while he was stealing from him because the homeowner waved a gun. My client thought that he was going to be shot. The homeowner's words to stop meant nothing to my client as he is Mexican and does not speak English. Therefore, it was all the homeowners fault for waving the gun in the first place."