Posted on 10/24/2009 1:21:25 AM PDT by BradtotheBone
Dallas police wrongly ticketed at least 39 drivers for not speaking English over the last three years, Police Chief David Kunkle announced Friday while promising to investigate all officers involved in the cases for dereliction of duty.
Pending cases will be dismissed, and those who paid the $204 fine for the charge, which does not exist in the city, will be reimbursed, Kunkle said.
"I was surprised and stunned that that would happen, particularly in the city of Dallas," Kunkle said. "In my world, you would never tell someone not to speak Spanish."
The citations were issued in several different patrol divisions by at least six different officers. One of those officers was responsible for five of the citations, Kunkle said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
This is interesting in that the while the drivers could not speak English, could they READ the road signs?
Anyone have any experience with an international drivers license that could add to this? (International license being relevant due to tourism)
I've driven all over Europe w/o an international license. You'd be surprised how intuitive the signage is. Of course, it does require one have reasonable intelligence which may or may not exclude people of a certain persuasion.
39 tickets issued... 36 months... Oh the humanities...
“Pending cases will be dismissed, and those who paid the $204 fine for the charge, which does not exist in the city, will be reimbursed, Kunkle said”
I wonder how did the courts know to fine them $204 if the charge doesn’t exist?
You don’t need to know the language to drive in a foreign country, but it sure as hell helps!
That’s a bit of creative reporting in an effort to hype their “evil, racist cops” angle. It’s a state charge that applies only to commercial drivers. So it’s a real crime, it’s a crime in the city, it’s just not a crime the city does the enforcement on.
The story indicates that the customary race pimp circus leap into action and is in full performance, too.
Did you see that stop sign?
Si?...
Yes, did you?
Si?
Then why did you run it?
No?
Yes you did sir...
Si?
Okay, now you’re just messing with me.
Si...
Thanks. I've only travelled Canada & Mexico but have acquaintances who have International License. (never thought to ask them about it)
You may have stated an underlying problem. Not sure how it should be dealt with though, considering international tourism.
In America we have freedom of speech and that freedom can be exercised in any language.
I have driven in countries that don’t even use the same alphabet as ours and still could find my way around.
I did notice the race circus part at the end of the story.
Isn’t “shutzenfester” what Rickman said to Gudunov in Die Hard in the glass-shooting scene?
How about "Not speaking English while being an illegal alien?" That sounds like an idea for a law.
sorry but i really don´t know. i have only watched “die Hard” in german :-) so difficult to say for me what they say in the original english version.
I can only reply in envy (or that you're talking about Boston or other major city?)
I had it wrong. Apparently it was something like “Schiess dem Fenster”
Here is a funny clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgBWDdVZrTs
How about “Not speaking English while being an illegal alien?” That sounds like an idea for a law.
Sounds to me like a young cadet trial lawyer was spending her spare time engaged in a close review of traffic court records.
She'll go far in that racket eh!
The United States has not quite evolved to that standard but it should.
I feel so cold and naked sitting here with an understanding that the Hindus are ahead of us.
I had it wrong. Apparently it was something like “Schiess dem Fenster”
Here is a funny clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgBWDdVZrTs
What a laugh riot ~ dubbed in Deutsche, subtitled in French.
Thank goodness my French reading comprehension was still good.
Sounds like a good law. I wish we had it.
There are many reasons they could be in America. Let’s not automatically assume they are illegal aliens. People do actually still come here for the freedom we still have and they do it legally. I think they need to learn English! But we could be nicer and help them a bit instead of just calling them illegal aliens and isolating them into their cultural communities where they will never learn English.
How do you say “popcorn” in German? I quite studying German after I learned how to say beer, wiener schnitzel and where’s the women. Then my favorite German restaurant closed and I had to learn French restaurant language. Still working on that.
Parley vous parfait?
Nyet?!!?
Ach de liber!
well i hope for you it was “Planet der Affen” and not “planets on the ape” as you wrote ;-)
(btw. your german is still pretty good because i know german is very hard to learn. it´s a “bitchy” language).
yeah it´s funny to watch movies in foreign languages
greetings
I wonder if you can apply for a Mexican drivers license in English?
Sounds like a good law. I wish we had it.
I didn’t say these people were illegal. I just said, somewhat in jest, how about a law for illegals who didn’t speak English.
Stationed in Frankenreich I discovered you can pronounced Deutsche such that virtually no one can understand it.
Guy was incredible.
You’re correct in that it IS the law that those with commercial driving licenses must be conversive in English.
I read yesterday that the computers in the police cars do NOT specify that the violation is only applicable to those with CDLs. The computer listing only indicates that not being English-conversive is a violation.
Therefore, many of the tickets were probably the result of the policemen just doing what their computer listing told them.
Dallas is essentially another “sanctuary” city for illegals and the news media there is all liberal. ....Don’t believe everything that comes from the Dallas media, because it’s all leaning far to the left.
In order for that to happen, we would have to make English our official language. I think it should happen, but I highly doubt it with the liberal mindset that is taking over!
How do you say “popcorn” in German? I quite studying German after I learned how to say beer, wiener schnitzel and where’s the women. Then my favorite German restaurant closed and I had to learn French restaurant language. Still working on that.
Parley vous parfait?
Nyet?!!?
Ach de liber!
no unfortunately my french is just awfull. but then again the good old “Voulez vous couche avec moi cette nuit” really helped me spending nights in paris ;-)
greetings
Whatever it was called in Northern Germany I’m sure the guys in Munchen were more than willing to misspell it in their own inimitible way.
Stationed in Frankenreich I discovered you can pronounced Deutsche such that virtually no one can understand it.
At least a dozen of those were mine. The first was to a Miss Eliza Doolittle.
Then I wrote several others for speaking ebonics and/or jive.
Also wrote a few yankees for not speaking Texan.
There is a distint difference between an international drivers license and one issued by the country you are in.
Not speaking English makes you a road hazard in this country. Those people’d had no trouble in Dallas if they’d walked or rode public transit. I’m on the lookout for someone legally using medical marijuana who gets in my way on the road with all that weaving and jerking the’re prone too ~ got my nine too ~ see: http://www.superlyrics.com/lyrics/kGRU0hxXY9@H@x/I_Got_My_Nine_lyrics_by_RBL_Posse.html
Familiar to monoglot anglophones from some popular songs. Wikipedia traces the familiarity with the expression, on the part of English speakers, to a poem by E. E. Cummings.
Still sounds like a good idea to me though.
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