Nathan's Occasional Blog

“The officers had no way of knowing the suspect was deaf and mute and the suspect apparently was unable to communicate that to the officers,” one supervisor wrote in a review. “The suspect could have avoided this confrontation by remaining calm and still.”

So the police expect disabled people to start wearing shirts that say “don’t shoot – I’m deaf” or “…I’ve got a learning disability” or …. 

Way to go Seattle PD, this was obviously the fault of the individual.  Can you imagine being in a silent world, one you already have trouble coping with, waiting to go to work, and when you turn around there’s an angry woman pointing a gun at you?  Yeah he shouldn’t have run – but I can understand why he did.

At least they had the decency not to press charges. 

Source: Taser use on deaf man defended