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Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Criminal Justice Quote: How Does a Deaf Person Sign "Don"t Taser Me Bro?"

     Officers from the Hawthorne Police Department in [LA County] California twice tasered a man who was trying to sign to them that he was deaf….The officers then beat the deaf man until he was unconscious then charged him with assault. A federal complaint has since been filed against the police department for violating Jonathan Meister's rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. According to the complaint... the cops "shot taser darts into Mr. Meister, administered a number of painful electric shocks, struck him with their fists and feet, and forcibly took him to the ground….

     Meister was picking up a snowboard that a friend had loaned to him ahead of a skiing trip to Utah….The four officers questioned him outside his friend's house. He was dressed in snowboarding gear and was loading boxes into his car. Due to his disability, he did not hear their questions. One officer then grabbed his hand, and Meister attempted to signal to the officers that he was deaf. The officers, however, took his hand movements as "resistance"….

Grae Stafford, "Police Taser a Deaf Man Twice, Then Charge Him With Assault For Signing," The Daily Caller, February 17, 2014 

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