Deaf Man Fatally Shot By Florida Deputies As Son Explains He Can’t Hear Them

[KamaAina]

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/09/22/deaf-man-fatally-shot-by-florida-deputies-as-son-explains-he-cant-hear-them-video/

Edward Miller, who has been deaf since childhood, was sitting with his 25-year-old son outside Fryer’s Towing Service in Dayton (sic) Beach when he was shot six times by the sheriff’s deputy.

On Friday, Miller had gone to the towing company with his son to resolve an issue with his vehicle. An employee with Fryer’s Towing Service claimed that Miller had been yelling at her – however Miller’s son explained that the only reason he was yelling was because his Miller only has two percent of his hearing....

Sheriff’s department spokesman Gary Davidson gives a rundown of what happened next:

While the specific sequence of events isn’t being released at this time due to the ongoing investigation, during the encounter, Hernandez perceived a threat and fired his duty weapon, striking and killing the man.

Miller’s son, however, said that the officers hadn’t listened when he tried to tell them his father was deaf.

I kept telling them that he can’t hear them. I kept telling them he can’t understand them.

This just makes it even harder. I’m the only one who knows what happened. I was right there. I saw the whole thing.

[Ilsa]

1. Shoot to kill; ask questions later.

It's an obscenity. It certainly isn't pro-life, and I don't understand why that movement isn't all over these murders of innocent people due to misunderstandings.

[Cooley Hurd]

2. The original Orlando Sentinel story:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-deputy-shoots-man-daytona-20140920-story.html

...and from the original story:

"While the specific sequence of events isn't being released at this time due to the ongoing investigation, during the encounter, Hernandez perceived a threat and fired his duty weapon, striking and killing the man," Davidson said in an e-mail.
</snip>

There's some explaining to do...

[Warpy]

3. "Suspect was armed?"

They'd better be able to prove this one.

[tazkcmo]

6. So are open carry

Open carry folks or concealed carry, it's legal in Florida so even if he does prove it he's still wasn't in any danger. Fucking cops.

[gcomeau]

65. Ummm

While I have no dispute with the fact that there are regular unjustified shootings by law enforcement, this statement:

"it's legal in Florida so even if he does prove it he's still wasn't in any danger."

...is fucking ridiculous. If you're in any confrontation with someone armed with a gun you are in danger. Because they can, at any time, use the damn thing. And unless you're telepathic you don't know if or when they will. Making it legal to have the gun doesn't change that one bit, it only increases the number of incidents in which guns will be involved.

[tazkcmo]

83. Of course it does.

That's ridiculous. Your state passes a law that says you can walk around with a gun, concealed or not depending on the law and you posit that LEO's can shoot you on sight for exercising your legal right to carry said weapon? OK then.

[gcomeau]

85. Try reading before responding.

I was not in any way making anything that even remotely fucking resembled an argument that this shooting was justified.

I was simply rebutting your absurd claim that the fact that carrying a gun being legal means a person "wasn't in any danger" from said person with gun. The legality of possessing the weapon has no bearing on the threat posed by the weapon.

[tazkcmo]

90. Take your own advice

[gcomeau]

91. Oh I always do

And while your statement was a little garbled it was still clear enough what you were saying.

[Rex]

4. Hernandez has a record of shooting and killing people.

And no doubt like the other person he killed, he will get away with this one too. Cuz you know, police are special people far above us lowly people they shoot and kill like animals.

YAY COPS, THEY ARE THE GREATEST!

[abelenkpe]

7. Crazy

My grandmother was deaf. She would yell often because she had no idea how loud she was. She didn't know sign language. She would read peoples lips. So many times I would explain to people she's not yelling, she's deaf. Then they'd see me talking slowly to her and think it was bs because she would understand me. This article is so sad.

[ChiciB1]

47. I Can Relate With The Theory About People Who Are

hard of hearing and how loud they talk. My husband doesn't have to wear a hearing aid, but doctors have told him his hearing is diminishing and he has started talking louder and louder. When he's on the phone it's especially bad. He can be in the kitchen and I'm back in a bedroom and even that far away I can hear him very well.

I live in FL and wonder sometimes if it's safe to go to the mall or shopping at the grocery store. Police here DO shoot and ask questions later. What's even sadder is that these stories are just becoming Ho-Hum to the American people anymore. It happens so often that too many are becoming less interested and is looked upon as an every day thing! I was just having this discussion with some people this past weekend.

It seems too many want their guns and whatever happens it's ALWAYS the person who got shot who was wrong!

[BrotherIvan]

8. So now yelling is a capital offense?

[billhicks76]

50. Should Be #1 CNN Headline

People aren't gonna take this crap much longer and then there will be some real headlines. This isn't the first person executed by cops for being deaf. I've read about many others.

[BrotherIvan]

68. I just don't know

There are so many wrong things, I think people just put their heads down and hope it doesn't happen to them. Maybe police could be managed because they are local. It all seems very bleak. And deaf organizations should be all over this, all the way to the Supreme Court because there needs to be training about how to deal with deaf people, and well people in general, for the police.

[valerief]

72. Apparently, it is in FLORIDA. And since fetuses can't yell, the state is still pro-life.

[BrotherIvan]

73. I can't keep up with what is anymore

But I suspect it truly is: proximity to cop.

[valerief]

74. Too many cops are our domestic terrorists. nt

[BrotherIvan]

75. Or storm troopers

We hear so much screaming about accountability for teachers, why not police? Their union is sacrosanct?

[valerief]

76. Might is right. Anyone who says otherwise is bullshitting or stupid. nt

[JEB]

9. Do these cops get ANY kind of training

besides pulling triggers?

[No Vested Interest]

19. I believe that many are ex-military; they are trained, at our expense, to kill.

Others go into the law enforcement field because they have a predilection for this type of activity.

I am not against law enforcement personnel, and have not had bad experiences myself, nor has my family.
I am, however, aghast at what is becoming a common occurrence in the US recently.

Too many people killed, because of someone's perception, too often incorrect, of danger to one's self.

[brush]

58. I wonder if there's really a perception of danger or . . .

they're just itching to shoot someone and can fall back on said perception?

BS, where did we get all of these afraid-of-the-slightest-little-thing cops?

IMO there are too many trigger-happy bullies on police forces that need to be weeded out.

Combine that with the racism that seems so prevalent and you get all the shooting/killings of people of color — especially black men.

Now we can add hard of hearing people to the target list.

[deafskeptic]

10. I'm surprised this one hasn't showed up in my newsfeed yet.

This has been a problem in the Deaf community for years.

At best, speech defects can get you thrown in the slammer because cop thinks you're drunk - not deaf.

At worst, failure to hear cops ordering you to stop or freeze can get you shot and killed. I had a deaf friend of mine get shot and killed because cops mistook him for someone else and when they yelled at him to surrender, he didn't obey them because he had never heard their orders.

They shot and killed him. The man was a leader at my old high school and he used to run around the track with a sweat shirt with the words I am proud of the deaf. He didn't deserve to get shot and killed like this.

Although, I've had nothing like this happen to me, my experiences with cops hasn't been pleasant.

[KamaAina]

12. A Deaf friend found himself on the pavement in handcuffs

after a routine traffic stop.

Did you know? DU has a Deaf/HH group.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1148

[deafskeptic]

16. No, I hadn't known. I will check it out. :D n/t

[uppityperson]

40. Seattle shooting of a partially deaf man who turned to see who was yelling

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2013926779_inquest14m.html

.....
At the time he was shot, Williams wasn't acknowledging, engaging, threatening or attacking Birk, Sebring said under questioning from Seattle attorney Tim Ford, who is representing Williams' family in the hearing.

Asked if Williams did anything that justified the shooting, Sebring replied, "Not that I can recall."

Birk, 27, testified earlier that he pursued Williams after he became concerned Williams appeared to be impaired while carrying a knife and board. Williams was shot about four seconds after Birk issued the first of three commands to put down the knife........

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/No-charges-in-woodcarver-shooting-by-Seattle-1016227.php

No charges in woodcarver shooting by Seattle police officer
Satterberg: Shooting 'troubling,' charges unwarranted

King County prosecutors will not pursue criminal charges against a Seattle police officer who shot and killed a homeless woodcarver in August, Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said Wednesday morning.

Announcing his decision on the controversial shooting, Satterberg said the evidence gathered does not support state charges against Officer Ian Birk in the slaying of John T. Williams.

That decision drew criticism from the Williams family attorneys, who suggested Satterberg took Birk at his word while ignoring other witnesses to the shooting.
(clip)
Minutes after Satterberg announced his decision, Seattle Police Chief John Diaz released a firearms review board report finding that Birk's actions were not justified. Another top police official called the shooting "egregious," and Seattle City Councilman Tim Burgess suggested Birk ought to be fired.

[xocet]

78. That is terrible....

No federal civil-rights charges for former SPD Officer Ian Birk
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle explained why civil-rights criminal charges won't be filed against Ian Birk, the ex-SPD officer who fatally shot woodcarver John T. Williams in 2010.

By Mike Carter
Seattle Times staff reporter

Federal prosecutors will not charge former Seattle police Officer Ian Birk in the 2010 shooting death of First Nations woodcarver John T. Williams.

After what was described as a "comprehensive and independent" investigation — which sources have confirmed involved a grand jury — the U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI concluded that the "evidence was insufficient, beyond a reasonable doubt, that [Birk] acted willfully and with the deliberate and specific intent to do something the law forbids."

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced last April that it would review the Williams shooting after King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said that state law precluded him from charging Birk because it required proof that Birk acted with malice.

Federal prosecutors faced a similarly high legal standard for proving that Birk acted willfully and with the intent to violate Williams' civil rights.

...

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2017233847_birk14m.html

WARNING: GRAPHIC - Additional video of the scene from the second patrol car's perspective:

http://www.youtube .com/watch?v=EnKLEOXenow

[uppityperson]

79. Yup, get out of car, run up close yelling "drop the knife" and shoot whenhe turns to see who isy

yelling at who because Birk never id'd himself as police, never said who he was yelling at, got too close to be "comfortable", and when Williams turned with a concerned expression, bam bam bam. Asshole.

[CaptainTruth]

11. What are we supposed to do when police threaten our lives?

Shoot back? Shoot first? Is that what it's come to? How can we protect ourselves from being murdered by cops?

I thought that, long long ago, I heard something about having the right to life, liberty, & the pursuit of happiness.

When did a trigger-happy cop (who works for me, paid by my tax dollars, & is sworn to serve & protect me) ... when did that cop get the right to take my life away? To take away my right to life, liberty, & pursuit of happiness?

[A HERETIC I AM]

36. His right to go home alive trumps yours. n/t

[billhicks76]

51. When We Allowed The Drug War

It's their only real purpose now. They seek cash from pullovers and like WaPost articles this week stated, that's all they do. They exist only to enrich themselves by stealing.

[KansDem]

61. You've raised a question long unasked...

I really don't know what I'd do if I suspected I would be beaten or shot by a police officer. I really don't know how I'd react.

My instinct would be to defend myself, but to what extent? I really don't know.

SYG?

[bonniebgood]

71. CaptainTruth, I've heard that there is a law called

'stand your ground' almost fifty states. If you "feel" your life is in danger,
then you have a right to shoot and kill first. Law does not say "who".

[Jim__]

13. Perceived a threat? Really?

Cops have to be reined in. This just has to stop.

[KamaAina]

14. Reined in

so as to end their reign of terror.

[Jim__]

15. Yes, I was coming back to change it. Thanks.

I wasn't sure so I went to google and checked.

[lpbk2713]

17. I'm hearing impaired and I live in Central Florida.

Something like this is always in the back of my mind when I go out.

I carry a copy of my latest hearing test in my glove box and I will
go for it very very slowly if I ever have to calm down a brown shirt.

FWIW ... hearing impaired people don't always know when they are
speaking louder than average. And another thing, when you keep
asking some people to repeat themselves instead of speaking louder
or more clearly they only get angry as if you aren't paying attention.

[cab67]

23. I've had the same issue.

I often overcompensate when trying to talk above background noise.

[deafskeptic]

27. Better to point to the glove compartment and let cop open it and you point to to the audiogram;

A paranoid cop might think you have a gun hidden in the glove compartment and that you'll shoot him.

[lunasun]

42. +1 or keep it with license they will ask for . I would not move for a glove compartment

Or reach under the seat

[PADemD]

54. Maybe the notation "hearing impaired" should also be included on driving licenses...

along with corrective lenses.

[AllyCat]

18. I'm so sick of these evil cops!

What the hell? What can we do about this? This poor man and his family!

[cab67]

20. I'm hearing-impaired, and this sort of thing scares the shit out of me.

I'm deaf on one side. This means I often can't understand what someone is saying if there's background noise. It also means I may not hear someone at all if they're coming from my bad side. Nor, for that matter, can I tell where sounds are coming from - including sirens.

Thankfully, the only time it impacted my interaction with a police officer, the officer didn't seem interested in escalation. I explained that I couldn't understand what he was saying and was turning my car off to kill the noise, and he didn't assume I was reaching for a firearm.

I do sometimes worry that my effort to ask for clarification might be seen as defiance, or that putting my hand behind my ear - an effort to signal that I can't understand someone - might be misinterpreted.

[Thor_MN]

55. Just as a note, if pulled over, shut the engine off before the officer approaches

They sometimes get riled up if you leave the engine running.

[cantbeserious]

21. American Law Enforcement - Is Out Of Control

eom

[littlemissmartypants]

44. This^ eom

[passiveporcupine]

22. different news source

Last edited Mon Sep 22, 2014, 06:58 PM - Edit history (1)

A Volusia County sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a Port Orange man who was “brandishing a firearm” Saturday in Daytona Beach, Sheriff Ben Johnson said.
...
Hernandez and another deputy who has not been identified already were at Fryer’s Towing on an unrelated matter when one of them heard a heated argument taking place outside, sheriff’s spokesman Gary Davidson said.
...
The sheriff said Miller and his son, who was not identified, had been at Fryer’s Towing on Friday night and returned Saturday. He provided no additional details on the circumstances surrounding the shooting.

Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood confirmed a disturbance had occurred at the business Friday night involving the son. Details on the disturbance were not immediately available.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20140921/NEWS/140929935/1040?Title=Volusia-deputy-fatally-shoots-man-in-Daytona-Beach

Sounds like maybe the man came back with a gun when he didn't get the result he wanted the night before. There is probably a lot more to this story than is available now.

[lpbk2713]

24. I won't believe it until I see a video.

Law enforcement has blown their credibility AFAIC.

They are too quick to go to CYA mode. And they are
accountable to no one except their Internal Affairs
Division which only exists to come up with the least
laughable alibi.

[Rex]

26. The first line of that post...is nowhere to be seen in the article linked.

How strange.

[noiretextatique]

29. i alerted on this

[passiveporcupine]

38. do you know what you could have done

rather than alert on a thread. I would first have googled the language I found missing to see where it came from...then maybe I'd ask the poster to correct their link.

[Gormy Cuss]

57. You're admonishing people because you made a mistake?

Here's a news bulletin: making up stuff or making sneaky edits and presenting the text as a quote from a linked source is classic trolling. An alert is absolutely an appropriate response.

[passiveporcupine]

81. I've actually never seen a troll do that

but I don't search for trolls nor expect all posters to be trolls.

The point is an alert is supposed to be used on a post that is intentionally trying to disrupt the dialogue. My error was a simple and unintentional mistake. All anyone had to do was mention the problem (as Rex did) in reply to my post, and as soon as I saw it, I immediately checked it out and saw what happened and fixed it. I am not sitting at my computer all day, I have contractors here working on my house. I'm sorry it took an hour before I checked back and saw Rex's post.

But there are people on DU who are so alert happy, that anything will trigger them. I've seen a lot of that. If anyone posts anything that is contrary to the OP, or maybe shows that the facts in the OP may not be correct, it's immediately deemed to be a troll. This place really scares me sometimes. Whenever I see something wrong (like what I did here), I check it out for myself. I don't pass it on to the mods to do that. I don't automatically assume "TROLL".

I don't have a history of trolling here. I usually don't engage in "petty battles" like this. It's not my style. I just think people need to treat each other with a little bit of respect and understand that we are humans and humans do make mistakes. What happened to being gracious and asking for a correction first?

I am not responding to this any further. I'm not into all the drama. Life is difficult enough without it. I apologize to all for being human and goofing up here.

[noiretextatique]

66. i think it is the responsibility of the poster

to post what he claims he's posting.

[passiveporcupine]

33. Oops sorry. I just corrected the link. Too many pages open at once.

[Rex]

34. NP. Thanks.

[Glassunion]

28. If you don't listen to the orders of a police officer, you only have yourself to blame.

Don't be deaf and a wood carver. That's just insane behavior.
http://www.policeone.com/officer-shootings/articles/3648804-Seattle-woodcarver-shooting-case-ends-in-1-5M-settlement/

Sign language = Threatening Gestures... Keep that shit to yourself.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/california-cops-taser-deaf-man-unconscious-communicate-article-1.1618103

Don't follow a police officer's orders... You were not trying to listen hard enough.
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/cops-beat-deaf-man-minutes-respond-yelling/

And for heaven sakes, do not be black, deaf and outside. That's just begging for trouble.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nc-probes-death-of-bicyclist-tased-by-police/

As we all know, yard work is not an activity deaf people should undertake.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/26/krupinski-detroit-police-shooting/14634913/

Why do deaf folks find it neccesary to go out to club? This is risky behavior.
http://tbo.com/news/deaf-man-sues-tampa-officers-claiming-excessive-force-248175

If you're deaf, remember you are instantly not a credible witness. Does not matter what you saw.
http://bangordailynews.com/2011/06/27/news/augusta/panel-finds-deaf-man%E2%80%99s-rights-violated-by-oxford-police-department/

The list goes on and on. These police need training, or better yet a job away from the public.

[IdaBriggs]

53. Please make this an OP so I can recommend it.

Thank you.

[Fred Sanders]

30. Sad to say but a national citizenry armed to the teeth in a culture worshipping violence is bound to

have a paranoid and trigger happy militarized police force working for them.

America, you did build this, the chickens are coming home to roost.

[Dustlawyer]

31. How is it that when a citizen shoots an intruder the requirement of "Reasonable fear for life" is

examined to the Nth degree (it should be), but a cop can be in reasonable fear for life (justified shoot) from an unarmed person?

[marble falls]

32. "Protect and Serve". What a crock.

[Taitertots]

35. All the "Good cops" on the force are not coming back untill he is fired...

[Man from Pickens]

69. so, perfect attendance for the forseeable future...

[passiveporcupine]

37. Aside from the fact that we really don't know what happened yet

The hearing issue is very real to me as well. My sister is very hard of hearing and speaks much louder than normal, especially when excited. She was with me once when driving, and I was pulled over. The officer took me back to his vehicle and told me he was going to arrest her if I didn't get her to stop shouting at him. She was not shouting at him, just speaking louder than normal people do.

He was a total creep and I made a complaint about him, but the hearing thing really is not handled well by police. They cannot always see hearing aids and they don't react well to anything they perceive as aggression. Raised voices really set them off.

[Helen Borg]

39. Short summary of events:

WHAT??? ..... KABLAM!!!!

[demigoddess]

41. If I were deaf and scared to go out

because of this I would get myself a Tshirt that had DEAF written across the front. I have a handicapped child and I knew a woman who carried a note from her child's doctor in her purse because she was afraid to be stopped when he had a black eye from hitting himself. I have often wondered if I needed something like that. Maybe a tshirt for her saying something to that effect. I have been accosted a few times in stores when she was going into a fit.

[RufusTFirefly]

43. How sad!

Reminds me of a young man of Middle Eastern ethnicity who boarded our local commuter train a month or so after 9/11. He was wearing a T-shirt that said "I didn't do it."

Must we assume the worst of our neighbors by default? Granted, from a cognitive and evolutionary standpoint, our brain's threat circuit is much more powerful than its reward circuit. But that used to mean that we treated strangers with a level of suspicion until they earned our trust. It didn't mean that we shot first and asked questions later.

All this relentless fearmongering has taken a terrible toll. Many of us, figuratively and sometimes literally, now have hair-trigger responses.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

45. Bang...Bang...

...stop or I'll shoot.

[littlemissmartypants]

46. This is a tragically repeated act in the deaf community.

And sadly, I suspect, more frequent than we know.

Imagine stroke victims with expressive and receptive aphasia that are ambulatory, they could be in the same boat. Parkinson sufferers...ALS...both of those disorders affect communication skills.

This is so tragic. My heart goes out to the family for the loss.

[ileus]

48. and only cops should have firearms...

[truedelphi]

49. When criminals and cops give up their right to bear arms,

I will join the anti-gun crowd.

[Thor_MN]

56. Yes, because everyone is safer when everyone always carry lethal weapons.

uh, oh yeah...

[IveWornAHundredPants]

80. I'd be curious to know how you think another gun would have improved this situation.

Remember, safety first when pointing your pop-gun at cops.

[Enthusiast]

52. We know why these unjustified shootings continue.

They continue because the perpetrators are seldom brought to justice.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

64. DING DING DING!!!! We have a winner!!!

[Enthusiast]

82. We always hear

from the Law and Order Righties® that long sentences are a deterrent to crime.

But, then, they never practice what they preach.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

87. When a Republican does it, it's not a "crime". It's a "policy"....

When people were talking about trying Bush Cheney the Republicans said it was "Criminalizing politics".

It starts to make sense that revolutions in Central America often had the entire former right-wing regime put before a firing squad.

They are such assholes that they don't even KNOW they're assholes.

[Enthusiast]

89. Yes. They have never even entertained the possibility that they are assholes.

Have a clue, fuckers!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

92. The ones I can't stand are the ones who KNOW they're doing something wrong,....

....but then claim it's okay because both sides do it. When they DON'T.

Then there's the ones that project. They claim to be the victim of every nasty tactic they can imagine and the Democrat stands there dumbfounded EVERY TIME wondering what the hell they're talking about.

[Enthusiast]

93. It is FRUSTRATING.

[Thespian2]

59. Have a desire

to murder someone...anyone...become a cop, especially in Florida. Want to steal money? Become a cop in almost any state. (Canadian government already has a warning for Canadians driving in the US. We can be robbed by the police.)

Want to help end this slaughter? End the Drug War. Prosecute cops who willfully murder. Vote out the members of your local government who will not hold cops accountable for their illegal actions.

[Lenomsky]

60. Not good huh?

The guy was in his SUV so I guess non lethal force was out of the question *rollseyes*

[tclambert]

62. The victim couldn't hear . . . and the cop wouldn't listen.

Two separate kinds of deafness going on there.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

63. ...

[old man 76]

67. Another sad day.

Sad that people who once were to protect and serve motto has changed to comply or die. Even sadder is a justice department who have given them a license to kill with out any worries of repercussion.

[valerief]

77. +1

[santamargarita]

70. It's called murder...

[The Wizard]

84. It's gotten to be

where they are trained / indoctrinated to believe the whole world is a battlefield and everyone not in uniform is the enemy. And their criminal behavior is always swept under the rug under the guise of feeling threatened. They repeat the same words when arresting someone: "Stop resisting, and stop going for my gun." This justifies all crimes committed by them. We are witnessing the rebirth of the Gestapo and SS.

[azureblue]

86. I'm not surprised

I am near deaf and wear aids. Aids are not perfect and they do not work well in noisy situations. I got stopped by an asshole cop who, in spite of me telling him I am hard of hearing and the ambient noise was too loud, so could we move to a quieter place, threatened to throw me in jail. Cops are assholes when you don't obey their commands, and they will hurt you if you do not, even if you have a hearing disability

[VA_Jill]

88. FloriDUH n/t