Man Beaten and Tasered Attempting To Sign that He Was Deaf

Man Beaten and Tasered Attempting To Sign that He Was Deaf

Beat ’em now and ask questions later…that seems to be the new protocol for much of law enforcement across this country.

We’ve seen stories like the one below one over and over in recent times. The more we get enclosed in a police state the more our police are becoming thugs.

Jonathan Meister, from Hamilton, CA, was beaten and tasered multiple times as he desperately tried to sign to them that he was deaf and could not hear their questions.

The Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness, has filed a suit on his behalf, claiming police violated Meister’s civil rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as using excessive force.

“We’re really concerned about the problem of law enforcement and people who are deaf. He wasn’t doing anything other than trying to get away from people who were hurting him.”

A California man was beaten and tasered multiple times as he desperately tried to tell them he was deaf and could not hear their questions.  He has now filed suit against the officers.

The Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness, has filed a suit on behalf of  Jonathan Meister , claiming police violated Meister’s civil rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as using excessive force.

The incident happened on Feb 13th, in Hamilton, Ca,  when the man went by a friend’s house to pick up snowboarding equipment.  A neighbor spotted him and thought he could be a burglar.  She called out to him, but he could not hear, so the neighbor called the police.  When two officers arrived, Meister put the boxes down and tried to sign to the officers that he was deaf.  The police tried to handcuff him.

The lawsuit claims:

“Because he is deaf, Mr. Meister depends on using his hands while facing a person to communicate.  The officers’ sudden aggression, which both caused pain and interfered with his ability to communicate, caused Mr. Meister reflexively to pull his hands away, hop back over the fence and step toward the gate … to create some space so that he could communicate.”

The police then knocked him to the ground and used a stun gun on him.  Two more officers arrived and began hitting and kicking Meister as he was on the ground, and used the stun gun on him multiple times.

Meister was eventually knocked unconscious and taken to the hospital, where he was charged with assault, but the charges were later dropped.

Meister’s lawyer said the confrontation could have been avoided if police were trained on dealing with the deaf.

“We’re really concerned about the problem of law enforcement and people who are deaf.  He wasn’t doing anything other than trying to get away from people who were hurting him.

Hamilton police refuse to comment.

Source: freepatriot.org


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