Southern California Police Beat and Taser an Innocent Deaf Man
LOS ANGELES (CN) - Clueless Hawthorne police beat and Tasered a deaf man as he signaled to them that he was deaf and his friend had loaned him the snowboard he was carrying, the man claims in court.
In a federal complaint for violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Jonathan Meister claims the attack could have been avoided had Hawthorne trained its police officers to communicate with the deaf and hard of hearing.
Officers confronted him on Feb. 13 outside a friend's home as he picked up a snowboard and winter clothes for a trip to Utah, Meister says in the lawsuit.
Meister says he used hand gestures to try to tell police he is deaf and was lawfully at the home.
The cops were having none of it. They "shot Taser darts into Mr. Meister, administered a number of painful electric shocks, struck him with fists and feet, and forcibly took him to the ground," he says in the complaint.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/02/14/65377.htm