Should Oregon police issue commands in Spanish when facing a suspect at gunpoint?

oregonlive.com ^ | Dec. 16, 2014 | Laura Gunderson

[PROCON]

Three McMinnville police officers faced off with Juventino Bermudez-Arenas as he held the large blade he'd just used to kill a 20-year-old Linfield College student.

Officers pulled their guns. One, who spoke Spanish, reached for her Taser but dropped it and grabbed her pistol as Bermudez-Arenas lowered his head and his hands and appeared to move forward.

Seconds before they fatally shot the 33-year-old Mexican man, police yelled, "Get on the ground," and, "Drop the knife," again and again.

[a fool in paradise]

The ACLU liars will claim he didn’t understand universal sign language.

[donna]

I can't believe it, LOL.

Does anyone know what's going on in Arizona?

How out-of-touch are people?

[a fool in paradise]

Wouldn’t it be profiling to assume that he didn’t speak English and shout commands at him in Espanish?

[hal ogen]

So...if I am an illegal alien invader from Pakistan, the cops better talk to me in Peshwar or something. This is further proof that LIBs are mentally impaired.

[chicagolady]

LOL!!

[Right Brother]

What if a darker skinned suspect that looks Mexican is actually of Pakistani descent? Should police learn Urdu?

[thorvaldr]

If I was in front of a convenience store holding a knife and a couple cops came up pointed their guns at me a and start yelling something in Spanish, Russian or Swahili, I think I would assume they meant “drop the knife”. It’s not that hard.

[goldstategop]

Its not that hard.... even people who speak English who know their Latin understand what Speedy Gonzales means.

You don’t have to be a cop to figure it out. Its liberals who have a language barrier.

[armydawg505]

If I speak Bulgarian, I would understand what the business end of a weapon means and what I should do. But then again, I’m not a liberal.

[MeshugeMikey]

just imagine the final.....outcome...as special interest groups from around the world representing criminal creeps speaking hundreds of languages.....end up making demands.

[babygene]

Sooo, if the perp is deft should they use sign language?

[onedoug]

How about a-rab?

[NFHale]

“...Glock is the universal language. ...”

It is indeed.

Post of the Day. Thank you!

[Zeppo]

Rosa Bermudez-Arenas, Juventino's sister, said her brother told her that night he was going to turn himself into police, and she now questions why none of the McMinnville officers used Spanish to direct him.

So he was going to turn himself in to the police by brandishing the knife that he had used to murder someone?

[Graybeard58]

Is Oregon in Mexico?

Maybe, maybe not but Mexico is in Missouri.

Mexico, Missouri population 11,530.

[Mich Patriot]

NO. If you’re in this country illegally, GTFO. If you’re here legally, learn the language or GTFO. If you don’t learn the language and choose to commit serious crimes here, you may be shot by LEOs when you fail to follow commands.

Got it? Good! Now GTFO.

[MCF]

This is all part of getting the Federal Government into controlling local police. We are going to hear more of these stories where the insensitive brutes failed to do whatever and need to be controlled.

[mikrofon]

Triggers: Press Once for English, Twice for Spanish

[Will we know the moment]

Wouldn’t this be considered racial profiling?

[Hatteras]

Hmmm... does this really need a translation?...