"My first thought when people don't understand me is to whap them upside the head. Pay attention boy, I said, pay attention."
Posted on 10/05/2007 6:07:30 AM PDT by tuffydoodle
FORT WORTH -- A store cashier struck a deaf customer in the head with a crowbar after he mistook the man's silence for rudeness and disrespect, police said.
The cashier, Ricky Benard Young, 20, is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
The customer, Cody Goodnight, 31, suffered "a large knot" on his head during the incident, which occurred Saturday at the Family Dollar Store at 4117 E. Lancaster Ave.
"I can't believe someone would hit him for not speaking," said Goodnight's mother, Kay Goodnight. "When you're deaf, you don't make a point of starting conversations with people."
Young's defense attorney, Mark Price, said Thursday that he was recently assigned the case and declined to comment.
Kay Goodnight called police after her injured son returned home from the store late Saturday morning. When officers arrived, she translated her son’s story to officers using sign language, said Lt. Dean Sullivan, a police spokesman.
Cody Goodnight said he had walked several blocks from their house to the Family Dollar to buy a soft drink for his 5-year-old son. Inside the store, he put the soda on the counter to pay.
The cashier tried to speak to him but got angry when Goodnight didn't respond, Goodnight told police. The cashier threw Goodnight's change at him, scattering it on the floor.
As Goodnight picked it up, the cashier hit him in the side of the head with the crowbar, Goodnight said.
Officers went to the store, where Young immediately asked if they were there about what "happened earlier," Sullivan said. The cashier told officers that he had tried to start a friendly conversation with Goodnight but that Goodnight wouldn't acknowledge him.
At one point, Young told officers, Goodnight mumbled something that Young thought was racial in nature, Sullivan said. Young told officers he struck Goodnight because he thought Goodnight was going to assault him.
After officers told Young that Goodnight was deaf and unable to communicate verbally, Young responded "Oh," Sullivan said.
"Upon further investigation, it appeared the suspect became frustrated when the victim wouldn't respond or acknowledge his attempts to converse," Sullivan said. "He became outraged and struck the victim in an unwarranted attack." The store's surveillance tape was erased or taped over before the officers got there, Sullivan said.
A corporate spokesman for the Family Dollar Store did not return a phone message Thursday.
Cody Goodnight was treated at the hospital for his injury but still has pain in his head and neck, Kay Goodnight said Thursday.
Deaf since the age of 2, when he suffered a high fever, Goodnight speaks in guttural sounds -- "deaf speak" as his mother calls it.
His stepfather, Barry Adair, said Goodnight doesn't like talking to strangers.
"He gets embarrassed because people make fun of the way he talks," Adair said. "He's not trying to be rude or unfriendly. You just can't understand him unless you're around him a lot."
Emily Robinson, a Fort Worth deafness resource specialist, said that while it is unusual for a deaf person to be attacked, misunderstandings are common. People sometimes take deaf people for rude when they are unresponsive, she said.
"It is a really big problem," Robinson said. "Businesses should be professional and sensitive to deaf people. There are training workshops about the deaf culture and what to expect in interactions with us."
"My first thought when people don't understand me is to whap them upside the head. Pay attention boy, I said, pay attention."
Unless in the military, I don’t know of any 20 year old that deserves respect. What has a 20 year old working as a cashier done to earn respect?
This happens quite frequently with my deaf wife, especially in stores. A clerk once greeted my wife, who naturally did not hear the greeting. As my wife walked away, I heard the clerk mutter "Bitch!" under her breath. I walked up to the clerk and informed her of my wife's deafness, and she turned all shades of red and apologized. Wanting to display more dignity than that little tart ever could, I walked away.
Yep. That's an old KKK tactic for sure.
What next? Bash a blind person for not looking him in the eye.
I am nearly totally deaf. I know the feeling, though I never have been assaulted with a crowbar. Some people get upset when you don’t speak to them. I just turn my head and point to my hearing aid when they get a little look on their faces................
To the libs, this guy is all of their best rolled into one!
SuperLib!
A corporate spokesman for the Family Dollar Store did not return a phone message Thursday. .."
The erased surveillance tape may end up costing Family Dollar.
WTF?????????
My jaw just hit the floor.
Damn, you Texans are a rough sort...
What next, he gets prosecuted for his crime and all the race pimps show up to defend him? John Mellonhead writes a song about racist oppression?
Why don't blacks who falsely play the race card ever get prosecuted for it?
GUILTY!!!!
Of assault and destroying evidence it seems.
Sounds like Young is pretty crafty - automatically playing the race card and destroying the evidence.
He needs to go away for a while so he can think.
I hope it’s assault with a deadly weapon. And since the perp brought up race himself, how about a racially motivated attack as well.
I wonder what his DU name is???
He needs to work on his Customer Service skills.
This is not good. But good is what a “Judge” is going to do to this clown.
Sensitivity training. 100 days community service at a deaf school. Then, for good measure, another 100 days at the school for the blind and another 100 days at the seeing eye dog training facility shoveling poo. Then some monetary damages, then a handwritten apology, etc.
Before it’s over this clerk will be offering up one of his own ears!
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