Posted on 08/22/2016 10:56:55 AM PDT by No One Special
Charlotte, NC — A community and family is mourning the loss of Daniel Kevin Harris, whose life was taken this week by a State Trooper who apparently fears sign language. Harris, who is deaf and mute, was gunned down in front of his house.
According to police, trooper Jermaine Saunders attempted to pull Harris over around 6:14 p.m. on Thursday. For an unknown reason, Harris did not stop and, instead, drove to his home.
During the pursuit, both cars became damaged and eventually came to a stop near Harris’ home.
“I was here in my driveway and I saw the highway patrol car come through and it was smoking really bad,” said neighbor Mark Barringer. “About 10 seconds later, I heard one gunshot.”
According to WCNC, Barringer says when he went to take a closer look, he saw Harris in the middle of the street. He died just a few feet from his front door. Several neighbors have put flowers near where Harris took his final breaths.
“It was surreal, you just don’t expect to see something like that,” said Barringer. “When the gunshot went off, it was scary.”
According to police, detectives say Saunders and Harris got into “an encounter” before the officer killed him. However, according to neighbors, as soon as Harris got out of his vehicle, Saunders fired.
“While on Seven Oaks Drive, the driver exited his vehicle and an encounter took place between the driver and the trooper causing a shot to be fired,” according to a statement from the State Highway Patrol.
Detectives say Harris was trying to communicate with the trooper using sign language before he was killed.
Harris died on the scene. He was 28-years-old.
• Ad-div-empty: id contentad130998 • Ad-div: id div-gpt-ad-1470255094958-0 “They should’ve deescalated and been trained to realize that this is an entirely different situation, you’re pulling someone over who is deaf, they are handicapped,” said Barringer. “To me, what happened is totally unacceptable.”
Neighbor Ryan Russell said he’d see the man out in the neighborhood speaking in sign language with his family. “It seemed like a very peaceful family,” Russell told WBTV. “These things are always heartbreaking.”
Audria Bridges, special agent in charge of the SBI office that covers the Charlotte region, said Saunders has been placed on administrative leave and an investigation is underway.
“The SBI is in the process of obtaining all available dash cam or body camera video present on the scene from the State Highway Patrol as well as Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, as CMPD responded to the scene immediately after the shooting,” Bridges said.
According to the Charlotte Observer, public records show an interpreter provided sign language for Harris at a court hearing in Florida in 2010. At the hearing, he was found not guilty of misdemeanor larceny and had a charge of misdemeanor resisting property recovery dismissed, records show.
Harris was found guilty of resisting an officer in 2010 when he lived in Connecticut, according to public records. However, this resisting charge was likely due to the fact that Harris could not hear the officer’s commands.
In the land of the free, a deaf man suspected of driving too fast can be killed in cold blood. Unfortunately, as we’ve shown time and again, this type of mistreatment and attacks on the deaf by police are all too common.
You don’t need ears to know if your rear tires blows out. LOL
Okay, this guy had to know he was getting pulled over, what is the truth in this story, much more to the story is my guess.
Must have. Silenced him real good.
He was fingered..
Cop was on the force a little over 2 years and from out of state. I've got 10 bucks that says he came straight out of the military, probably after too many combat tours, not adjusted to civilian life; to patrol our streets as a cop.
This stuff would rarely happen in the past, now it's a weekly occurrence.
None of that is an excuse for shooting him. If you did what that cop did over a minor traffic incident you would be in prison.
"The World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) stresses that deafness does not in any way limit a person's ability to drive a car or other vehicles. Consequently, a deaf driver does not constitute a risk for safe traffic."
I'd suppose if deafness was a bar to obtaining a driver's license a hearing as well as vision test would be required.
Deaf lives matter! /s
So sad.
An experienced criminal tried to outrun and wreck a cop? Sounds like society has been improved.
...
That’s jumping to conclusions, but when you’re trying to whip up emotions against the police I suppose it’s allowed.
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Jumping to conclusions? Ok Moonman6, just explain to me a good reason to shoot a man who is unarmed and making signs with his hands.
In my opinion, there can not be any justification for shooting a small unarmed man if you are a cop. You have a baton, you have a taser and you have your hands. If the only way you can manage the situation is shooting then you don't need to be a cop.
I highly suspect the cop will serve time for this stupidity. He can't serve enough to satisfy me. Serve and protect? Hardly.
Everybody is acting like the media, over-reacting when little facts are in, let’s wait a bit shall we ... ?
My wife has one.
This is my perception, when I lived in Philly a few years back my neighbor 2 doors down was old and deaf. When he came home with groceries my sons knew as I was taught, to run out and help him carry them in. There were never words exchanged because he could not hear. Communication between him and us was simply a wave a smile and hand motions of I got this I’m here to help.
I can fully understand a deaf person not hearing a siren behind them and continuing to drive not paying attention to what is behind them.
It’s a shame when he did learn that a cop was behind him to stop, put it in park and put your hands at 10 and 2 on the wheel.
Jumping out was not a good reaction
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there was a neighbor who saw the deaf man get out of the car and start signing and then he was shot.
A 28 year old man, nearly still a kid who wasn't trying to do something bad, is dead. I can simply not bend my mind enough to figure out what could have happened to justify his death.
If it was your kid that was dead in this situation you wouldn't think my reaction is an overreaction. This is just plain wrong.
She can easily see the flashing lights of an approaching fire engine, and knows better than to cross train tracks when the rails are down and the lights are flashing - unlike some hearing people, eh?
In what way?
So a revenge shoot would be justified, yes?
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