Cop Shoots and Kills Unarmed Deaf Man as He Tries to Communicate Using Sign Language

Soldato
Joined
30 Aug 2009
Posts
8,092
Location
one nation under sony

Charlotte, NC — A community and family is mourning the loss of Daniel Kevin Harris, whose life was taken this week by a State Trooper who apparently fears sign language. Harris, who is deaf, was gunned down in front of his house.

According to police, trooper Jermaine Saunders attempted to pull Harris over around 6:14 p.m. on Thursday. For an unknown reason, Harris did not stop and, instead, drove to his home.

During the pursuit, both cars became damaged and eventually came to a stop near Harris’ home.

“I was here in my driveway and I saw the highway patrol car come through and it was smoking really bad,” said neighbor Mark Barringer. “About 10 seconds later, I heard one gunshot.”

According to WCNC, Barringer says when he went to take a closer look, he saw Harris in the middle of the street. He died just a few feet from his front door. Several neighbors have put flowers near where Harris took his final breaths.

“It was surreal, you just don’t expect to see something like that,” said Barringer. “When the gunshot went off, it was scary.”

According to police, detectives say Saunders and Harris got into “an encounter” before the officer killed him. However, according to neighbors, as soon as Harris got out of his vehicle, Saunders fired.

“While on Seven Oaks Drive, the driver exited his vehicle and an encounter took place between the driver and the trooper causing a shot to be fired,” according to a statement from the State Highway Patrol.

Detectives say Harris was trying to communicate with the trooper using sign language before he was killed.

Harris died on the scene. He was 28-years-old.

“They should’ve deescalated and been trained to realize that this is an entirely different situation, you’re pulling someone over who is deaf, they are handicapped,” said Barringer. “To me, what happened is totally unacceptable.”

Neighbor Ryan Russell said he’d see the man out in the neighborhood speaking in sign language with his family. “It seemed like a very peaceful family,” Russell told WBTV. “These things are always heartbreaking.”
Audria Bridges, special agent in charge of the SBI office that covers the Charlotte region, said Saunders has been placed on administrative leave and an investigation is underway.

“The SBI is in the process of obtaining all available dash cam or body camera video present on the scene from the State Highway Patrol as well as Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, as CMPD responded to the scene immediately after the shooting,” Bridges said.

According to the Charlotte Observer, public records show an interpreter provided sign language for Harris at a court hearing in Florida in 2010. At the hearing, he was found not guilty of misdemeanor larceny and had a charge of misdemeanor resisting property recovery dismissed, records show.

Harris was found guilty of resisting an officer in 2010 when he lived in Connecticut, according to public records. However, this resisting charge was likely due to the fact that Harris could not hear the officer’s commands.

In the land of the free, a deaf man suspected of driving too fast can be killed in cold blood. Unfortunately, as we’ve shown time and again, this type of mistreatment and attacks on the deaf by police are all too common.
 
Soldato
Joined
8 Nov 2006
Posts
22,966
Location
London
This is why we shouldn't arm all police officers in the UK.

Even if 1% of police officers are incompetent, that is a lot of people driving around with guns which could result in deaths.

This story doesn't seem to make much sense, a lot more going on than reported.

It's presented what is known at this time. No speculation made. A statement from the police and some witnesses.

Of course the entire situation doesn't make sense. It is absurd.
 
Transmission breaker
Don
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
16,793
Location
In a house
Both cars became damaged in the chase? Apparently the police car was "smoking" according to one report.

Did they crash into the back of him?

As above, far more going on here that is being reported!
 
Caporegime
Joined
29 Jan 2008
Posts
58,899
This is why we shouldn't arm all police officers in the UK.

it is much less to do with the fact the officers are armed and much more to do with the prevailing culture re: use of lethal force

though I do like the fact we've still got unarmed police there are plenty of European countries with more robust rules of engagement and better police accountability that have all their officers armed without having these sorts of incidents on a regular basis
 
Soldato
Joined
8 Nov 2006
Posts
22,966
Location
London
I agree and it's probably the same story again here but the story seems to gloss over the quite important part of the police chase which caused both cars to be damaged.

It didn't gloss over it. They can't add any more detail to that. They are not free to speculate why it might have happened.

Whatevrr happened, unless the guy was armed, an escalation to where a shooting is occurring is absurd.

edit:

We already know what the police officer's defence will be. He thought he was armed.
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
17 Jun 2012
Posts
11,259
What can you say. Life can be taken so easily, there must have been some sense of danger to the cop, maybe sign language signals sparked it off, an unsual reaction from the victim. He may have percieved it as insulting.
 
Soldato
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
17,854
Location
London
It's presented what is known at this time. No speculation made. A statement from the police and some witnesses.
What is this if not speculation?
In the land of the free, a deaf man suspected of driving too fast can be killed in cold blood. Unfortunately, as we’ve shown time and again, this type of mistreatment and attacks on the deaf by police are all too common.

Seems there's a lot more going on than we know. Sounds like the guy had history and there was also a high-speed pursuit.
 
Soldato
Joined
8 Nov 2006
Posts
22,966
Location
London
What can you say. Life can be taken so easily, there must have been some sense of danger to the cop, maybe sign language signals sparked it off, an unsual reaction from the victim. He may have percieved it as insulting.

Other articles say he was walking towards the cop, not listening to commands telling him to stay still. Or at least that is what unnofficial police sources are saying.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
13 Oct 2006
Posts
90,821
I wonder if the guy had some other issues like mental health related (which seems poorly understood by US cops especially) that caused the event to escalate.
 
Commissario
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
32,996
Location
Panting like a fiend
This story doesn't seem to make much sense, a lot more going on than reported.

Possibly not much different to the psychologist who was shot in the leg the other week whilst lying on the floor with his hands and arms outstretched whilst trying to talk to a disabled man who the officers thought was carrying a gun (it was a toy car, a fairly obvious toy car).
 
Commissario
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
32,996
Location
Panting like a fiend
I wonder if the guy had some other issues like mental health related (which seems poorly understood by US cops especially) that caused the event to escalate.

More likely if he was deaf he couldn't communicate with the officers, and the hand movements scared them.

IIRC it was only a few weeks ago they shot an Indian man visiting his son because the language barrier meant that they couldn't communicate and they assumed he was suspicious.
 
Soldato
Joined
8 Apr 2009
Posts
12,702
If this chap was that impaired that he could not hear a police siren, notice a collision between two vehicles (one of which was his), and also failed to see a police car following him in his rear view mirror then why the hell was he passed as fit to drive in the first place.

The story does not make sense.
 
Back
Top Bottom