• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Cop Shoots and Kills Unarmed Deaf, Mute Man communicating with sign language

Status
Not open for further replies.
K

kame-sennin

Member
harris.jpg


CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A man killed by a state trooper in northeast Charlotte after a traffic stop escalated into a chase is deaf, according to neighbors.

Investigators say Trooper Jermaine Saunders attempted to pull over a Volvo on 485 for speeding. However, they say the driver, Daniel Kevin Harris, did not stop.

The chase continued off 485, to Rocky River Road exit, eventually ending at Seven Oaks Drive with both vehicles damaged.

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

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."

Detectives say Trooper Saunders and Harris got into "an encounter" before he fired his weapon. Neighbors say Harris' car spun out of control and was shot almost immediately after exiting the vehicle.

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

"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."

Trooper Saunders has been placed on administrative leave.

The SBI is leading the investigation. They say they will review dash and body cam videos from Highway Patrol and CMPD.
Click to expand...

http://www.wcnc.com/news/crime/nchp-trooper-involved-in-deadly-shooting/301939728
 
K

kirblar

Member
"We think he was trying to communicate with the officer", say people who didn't see what happened.

The footage will come out eventually, its not hard to withhold judgment.
 
F0rneus

F0rneus

Tears in the rain
It's like an Onion article, except it's real life. Rest in peace. This is pathetic at this point. US police needs a reform.
 
F

Forerunner

Member
Why isn't this guy listening to my commands? Why is he makings weird gestures? Fuck this, I'm just going to shoot him.

Officers are so poorly trained, it's disgusting.
 
M

Mr. X

Member
kirblar said:
"We think he was trying to communicate with the officer", say people who didn't see what happened.

The footage will come out eventually, its not hard to withhold judgment.
Click to expand...

Gotta wait for more evidence because cops did something wrong.

Give 'em enough time to write a good story and rehearse it and tailor the footage or lose it.
 
F

Futureman

Member
if the guy didn't stop because he couldn't hear the police then he shouldn't be driving.

Sounds like he was running though if the cop car got to the point of damage and smoking.
 
O

Order

Member
kirblar said:
"We think he was trying to communicate with the officer", say people who didn't see what happened.

The footage will come out eventually, its not hard to withhold judgment.
Click to expand...
I'm sure the footage will give a perfectly good reason for killing a deaf man who posed no threat at all to an armed officer.

I'm sure of it.
 
R

Raiden1018

Banned
Out of curiosity,

If there are any police gaffers, dont you guys go through a long process of training? We're not supposed to fear cops but yet we do. You guys are here to serve and protect not shoot at any giving moment.
 
W

Wanderer5

Member
DonMigs85 said:
You learn something new every day
Click to expand...

I going to guess that they would need some modification with their car or such to help awareness on say any emergency vehicles for example. Kind of wonder about that here, but course regardless, this ended horribly.
 
F

Familienoberhauptvogel

Banned
Order said:
I'm sure the footage will give a perfectly good reason for killing a deaf man who posed no threat at all to an armed officer.

I'm sure of it.
Click to expand...

To be honest don't judge until you know more is a perfectly reasonable stance.
The story sounds shitty and even if the victim was threatening he shouldn't have been shot.
 
K

kirblar

Member
Order said:
I'm sure the footage will give a perfectly good reason for killing a deaf man who posed no threat at all to an armed officer.

I'm sure of it.
Click to expand...
In other cases it has backed up the officer. In other cases it's also shown the cop as a gigantic idiot and/or scumbag. Getting outraged before we've got facts in hand does nothing.
 
C

Claude Augario

Member
kirblar said:
"We think he was trying to communicate with the officer", say people who didn't see what happened.

The footage will come out eventually, its not hard to withhold judgment.
Click to expand...

How do you think an unarmed deaf man communicates?

kirblar said:
In other cases it has backed up the officer. In other cases it's also shown the cop as a gigantic idiot and/or scumbag. Getting outraged before we've got facts in hand does nothing.
Click to expand...

The unnecessary killing of American citizens by an incompetent and malicious police force that has spent literally decades destroying lives with impunity should always elicit outrage.
 
DirtyLarry

DirtyLarry

Member
Futureman said:
if the guy didn't stop because he couldn't hear the police then he shouldn't be driving.

Sounds like he was running though if the cop car got to the point of damage and smoking.
Click to expand...
I can easily envision the cop ramming their car into the deaf person's car out of rage and anger. "This idiot is completely disobeying my commands and not stopping? I'll show them."

As far as the not driving part because they are deaf, as much as it sucks I do kind of agree with that. Sound plays a pretty important aspect of driving safely. It is the same reason wearing headphones while driving is against the law.

With that said I do imagine they could make a system that could detect abnormal sounds and alert a deaf driver visually they are at least happening.
 
D

DarthWoo

I'm glad Grandpa porked a Chinese Muslim
Futureman said:
if the guy didn't stop because he couldn't hear the police then he shouldn't be driving.

Sounds like he was running though if the cop car got to the point of damage and smoking.
Click to expand...

There is reportedly no evidence that hearing-impaired drivers are less safe than those who can hear. One would think that with as many distractions as hearing drivers give themselves at times, some deaf drivers might even be safer.
 
N

Nephtis

Member
Hold on

Did this cop follow the guy without his lights on or something? How'd the guy miss that?

As for the car damage, he probably did that thing where they hit the side of the car near the back to make it spin out of control. Still, typically aren't cops supposed to stay behind when doing a chase and waiting for reinforcements?

I'm just trying to understand how it got to that point.
 
K

kirblar

Member
Claude Augario said:
How do you think an unarmed deaf man communicates?

The unnecessary killing of American citizens by an incompetent and malicious police force that has spent literally decades destroying lives with impunity should always elicit outrage.
Click to expand...
The issue isn't how he communicates, its that the back half of the article is nothing but spec on what might have happened after the cars came to a stop.

This is the price of the stupid gun laws. I can't be angry at cops acting in good faith who make snap judgments based on incomplete information. They're rational actors in an irrational system. Unnecessary deaths are a terrible side effect of the 2nd amendment.

The ones acting in bad faith or with complete incompetence, however? They get all the venom.
 
DonMigs85

DonMigs85

Member
Wanderer5 said:
I going to guess that they would need some modification with their car or such to help awareness on say any emergency vehicles for example. Kind of wonder about that here, but course regardless, this ended horribly.
Click to expand...

Yeah, if there's a siren or honking horn in the immediate vicinity maybe a light would flash in the car?
 
F

Familienoberhauptvogel

Banned
kirblar said:
This is the price of the stupid gun laws. I can't be angry at cops acting in good faith who make snap judgments based on incomplete information. They're rational actors in an irrational system. Unnecessary deaths are a terrible side effect of the 2nd amendment.

The ones acting in bad faith or with complete incompetence, however? They get all the venom.
Click to expand...

I have to disagree there, US cops are even shooting guys armed with knives en masse. That just points to a failure in training.
 
M

Mesousa

Banned
Big Baybee said:
Why would you think they weren't? I've been working within the deaf community for about a decade now and honestly I'm starting to get as offended as they are to sentiments like this lol.
Click to expand...

It seems a fair question.

First day of Driving school they told us to never have our music up too loud so we could hear what was going on around us. Seems like it could be an issue if the driver couldnt hear ANYTHING.
 
A

ascii42

Member
Big Baybee said:
Why would you think they weren't? I've been working within the deaf community for about a decade now and honestly I'm starting to get as offended as they are to sentiments like this lol.
Click to expand...

Biggest thing would be inability to hear sirens, I would guess. I don't think it's worth getting offended over what seems like a question asked in earnest. Just clear up the ignorance.
 
DonMigs85

DonMigs85

Member
Big Baybee said:
Why would you think they weren't? I've been working within the deaf community for about a decade now and honestly I'm starting to get as offended as they are to sentiments like this lol.
Click to expand...
Well, I even did a search for "deaf car accessories" and can't seem to find anything like light attachments and all that.
 
K

kirblar

Member
Big Baybee said:
Why would you think they weren't? I've been working within the deaf community for about a decade now and honestly I'm starting to get as offended as they are to sentiments like this lol.
Click to expand...
Headphones while driving are banned in my state. I can see people wondering if that rationale extends to physical impairment.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Oklahoma City cops encounters man with stick, shot him with a gun and Taser, man dies
2
89
11K
Dr.Phibes replied
NTSB says driver in fatal Tesla crash was overreliant on the car’s ‘Autopilot’ system
42
6K
FyreWulff replied
  • Locked
Oklahoma cop shoots & kills an unarmed man
2 3
128
16K
Spring-Loaded replied
Texas cop fatally shoots 15-year-old boy outside party
6 7 8 9 10
455
84K
Stinkles replied
  • Locked
Video released of Tulsa PD shooting and killing unarmed black man (Up: not guilty)
15 16 17 18 19
930
109K
Trojan X replied
Top Bottom