Innocent man beaten and tasered by California police for signaling he is deaf

[damnedifIknow]

LOS ANGELES (CN) - Clueless Hawthorne police beat and Tasered a deaf man as he signaled to them that he was deaf and his friend had loaned him the snowboard he was carrying, the man claims in court.
In a federal complaint for violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Jonathan Meister claims the attack could have been avoided had Hawthorne trained its police officers to communicate with the deaf and hard of hearing.
Officers confronted him on Feb. 13 outside a friend's home as he picked up a snowboard and winter clothes for a trip to Utah, Meister says in the lawsuit.
Meister says he used hand gestures to try to tell police he is deaf and was lawfully at the home.
The cops were having none of it. They "shot Taser darts into Mr. Meister, administered a number of painful electric shocks, struck him with fists and feet, and forcibly took him to the ground," he says in the complaint.
Officers kicked and punched him in the back and stomach, choked and Tasered him, delivering "punishing shocks" and intentionally "burning his flesh," Meister claims.
He says four defendant officers took part in the attack: Jeffrey Salmon, Jeffrey Tysl, Erica Bristow and Mark Hultgren.
After he was knocked unconscious and taken to a hospital, he cited for assaulting the officers and released, but the charges were dropped.

http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/02/14/65377.htm

[Marr]

1. "Cited for assaulting the officers, and the charges dropped".

That's a big red flag, imho. If he'd assaulted them, they wouldn't have dropped the charges. But they pretty casually put that lie together to cover their asses. I assume the officers also 'received medical treatment' that amounted to a band-aid but is nevertheless thoroughly documented?

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. plus 100

[christx30]

33. His face repeatedly

assaulted their fists.
I hope these cops go to prison for this. I know they won't. But it's nice to dream of cops in gen pop.

[SamKnause]

3. Fucking disgusting.

This could have easily ended like the Kelly Thomas case.

I am sickened, frightened, and enraged with the police forces in America.

Best of luck to you Mr. Meister in your quest for justice.

We will never forget you Kelly Thomas.

P.S. Can we now safely say it is not a few bad apples, or at least the barrel is full and running over ????

[damnedifIknow]

10. Why?

What's the point of doing something like this? I'm sitting here racking my brain trying to justify this somehow and coming up empty. I don't understand.

[zeemike]

18. Why?...they want you to fear them.

They follow the principles of Machiavelli
It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.

[damnedifIknow]

22. Job well done

http://www.mamiverse.com/why-child-afraid-police-23646/

My child is afraid of the police, and this terrifies me.

I don’t know how this phobia came about with my 10-year-old daughter. "

*Whenever she sees a police officer she looks at the ground, tries to cower and freeze"

*A few months ago I was stopped for speeding on a major interstate. The officer spoke to me through the passenger’s window where my daughter was sitting, as cars raced by us at 75 mph The officer acted professionally. He was not harsh, offensive or rude. But as I was signing the ticket and passing it back, I noticed a tear drop from my daughter’s eye. She was shaking and petrified. She was inches from this man and she was terrorized. Why?"

[zeemike]

36. An interesting story.

And it ends with saying they hope the DARE program will help.
But the fear was probably learned in school in the first place because schools now are like prisons.

I remember years ago here on DU someone posted that the school had a visit from the police who brought dogs and made the students get on the ground...it was a drill.
And the poster thought nothing of it...as if it was normal...and was shocked that I thought it was training children to fear the cops.

I have sympathy with anyone who has children today and has to sent them to a prison like place to learn...it can teach them nothing but fear.

[SomeGuyInEagan]

11. Training and SOP now focus on aggressive response

Officers used to be taught to find ways to diffuse situations - using their words. I guess the standard we hold toddlers to is too high a bar for law enforcement in the U.S. Today.

Between that and the beefing up of hardware to military issue, we're in real trouble as a society.

[phil89]

4. Time for stricter psych testing

and at least a bachelor's degree before someone can become a police officer. Also, no former military people should be eligible for hire as police officers. This is obscene.

[flying rabbit]

7. No former military people?

Yes, we are all psychotic.
welcome to DU

[zeemike]

21. No you are not and neither are cops.

But you have to understand that both professions attract people who love the power of having a gun and a license to kill...so they are attracted to that profession...
The biggest mistake this country made is the all volunteer military...IMO.
When you ask for volunteers to kill guess what type of people will jump at the chance.
We did just fine with conscripted military because they did it as a duty not because they liked it.

[flying rabbit]

23. I didn't volunteer to kill

I volunteered for job skills( not killing) and it has served me well.I knew I might have to do some "killin" if the shit hit the fan, and in my case it never did. BTW what service were you in, because you seem to think you know the minds of service members.

[zeemike]

37. I served in the Navy from 1960 to 1968

And there are many like you who do it for the job skills and many as a way out of poverty...just as it has always been...but it does not change the fact that it is an attractive career for the sociopath that do like the power that comes from it...and there are fewer average persons who are there because they were drafted and from all walks of life.
I was in during the draft, and I served with all kinds of people...when I was in school the guy in the bunk above me was the grandson of a very rich man who swabbed the floors when it was his turn just like we all did...but when he went on liberty he was picked up at the gate in a limo...and we got to know each other pretty well.
You will not likely see that today...and I met and interacted with all kinds of people that no one in todays military will ever do...and so there is no moderating influence on behavior in all strata of life.

IMO we should return the military to a conscripted force, end the outsourcing of support of the military to private contractors...(way back then the military was self suporting...they cooked their own food and served it and swept and swabbed there own floors and did not rely on contractors for anything)... in the Navy every sailor out of boot camp served 3 months of compartment cleaning or mess cooking and that is how they did the jobs that we pay contractors billions to do today.

But I know I am living in the past and today we have been sold the all volunteer military as a good thing, but I think otherwise...and think it is just another slide downward away from the idea of public service to private armies.

[flying rabbit]

38. I am totally on board with

less privatization in the military, and having some sort of mandatory public service; whether it be military or some kind of conservation corps. Mix the class strata up a bit.

[weissmam]

47. won't work anymore

thinking that an all volunteer military would work betrays a cartoonish understanding of the modern military and how technical and complicated it has become , even just an infantry mans job

[zeemike]

48. Well I guess nothing works any more.

Except the corporate state...and if it does not work for us then we need to rethink the whole thing.
Or accept the Brave New World and conform to it.

I am glad I am old, and will not have to live to see it in full bloom, and to the young ones I can only say I am sorry we could not stop it.

[weissmam]

46. because most military Jobs now require extensive training (read years)

an all volunteer military will not work anymore . Just to be able to drive a combat vehicle can take in excess of two years and that's quick. Forget about maintaining one, that's 3-5 years.

Most of the highly technical fields can take years longer

[zeemike]

49. Well there were technical fields in the 60s too.

And I was in one...and they sent me to a class A school and taught us all we needed to know...even the math we needed to calculate the frequency of a resonant circit...and the teachers were also service men who were in it for a carrer...and believe it or not people made a career out of it then too.
That school took us from knowing nothing about electronics to building a superhetrodine receiver from scratch and tuning it for our 10th week test...and then we went to our speciality...mine was synthetic flight trainors...and I had no training at all in any of that before the Navy.

But right in boot camp they gave us a serious of test to see what we had an aptitude for and placed us accordingly

So I refuse to believe that it cannot be done...things are not so technical that people cannot be trained to do it...and by service men not government contractors.

[JoeyT]

26. It isn't really a question of psychotic/not psychotic.

It's a question of training. The entire purpose of training is so that when the shit hits the fan, you react appropriately without having to stop and think. Police training and soldier training ought to be two very different kinds of training.

I don't think a prohibition on ex-military will actually help. The only thing that will help is when society, including other cops, starts holding people that do things like this responsible with jail time instead of paid vacations.

[sked14]

50. No former military people?

Nice slap at us military vets.

[Comrade Grumpy]

5. We need a national commission on law enforcement standards and practices.

I keep saying that.

[Downwinder]

20. It is called Homeland Security.

They are a big part of the problem.

[MrScorpio]

6. Yay, Cops! They're the best. nt

[Logical]

8. They delivered milk earlier! nt

[ybbor]

9. I love Peace Officers!

[Brigid]

12. Here we go again.

Wasn't there a similar case not long ago? And of course there was Kelly Thomas. And the Dunn case (the jury can't even see a clear case of cold-blooded murder staring them right in the face). And the VW plant in KY turning down union representation because the workers were threatened and told a pack of lies about more work coming. Coal companies in two different states poinson the water supplies and get away with it. And now this. I give up on this backward, idiotic shitehole of a country. I just give up.

[SoapBox]

13. What the fuck is wrong with all these Police Militia freaks?

Fucking fire these bastards.

[azureblue]

14. and this is why

deaf and hard of hearing people stay away from cops. They do not know how to respond, and even if you tell them, they think you are faking or disrespecting their "authority". I have a profound loss and almost got thrown in jail by a dumb ass cop, because I told him I have a major hearing loss and I can't hear what he was saying. If the asshole had not seen my hearing aids, he would have beaten me for "non compliance" for sure. Over a right turn on red violation.

[deafskeptic]

43. exactly.

I've had a Deaf Friend die to cops. He was visiting a friend when cops came. They mistook him for a guy they were chasing and ordered him to stop. When he didn't stop, they thought he was resisting arrest. They shot him dead.

This man had no criminal record. He was considered a leader at my school for the Deaf.

He was a track star and he used to run around the track with the words "I'm proud of the Deaf."

He was not one of those stuck up jocks either.He had no reason to die like he did.

It's bad enough to be either deaf or black around cops. Its worse to be both deaf and black like my friend was.

[JI7]

15. this is the same dept that shot and killed the dog

[awoke_in_2003]

16. I do not understand American Hand Language...

but if I saw someone using it I would not find it a threat, and try to find someone who can understand it. Cops are like someone with a hammer- when the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like nails.

[markpkessinger]

17. Counting down until the first "This is just one bad apple" comment ... 3...2...1... n/t

[JoeyT]

27. Which are always funny, because they leave off the latter half of the saying. n/t

[markpkessinger]

30. Quite right!

I suspect a lot of people use the first part of that sying without either knowing the full version, or understanding it.

[SamKnause]

29. I covered it in the 3rd post.

[markpkessinger]

31. I didn't count yours because . . .

. . . you only referenced it in order to refute it. I was talking about the seemingly de rigeur, "This is not representative of all cops . . . blah, blah, blah."

[Enthusiast]

41. Just a few Brown Shirts, er.........bad apples.

[IAmKirak]

19. You get the government you permit to exist.

[Tumbulu]

24. This is so seriously upsetting

Something fundamental has changed with the police forces in the country. And it is for the way worse. I do not know what to do about it, but we need to do something- very quickly!

[jsr]

25. Lazy sadistic robots feeding at the taxpayer trough

[Deep13]

28. I hate cops.

yeah yeah broad brush. right or wrong, I hate cops.

[SoCalMusicLover]

32. I'm With You On That

nt

[Lizzie Poppet]

40. I haven't gone that far, but...

I haven't gone quite so far, but I changed my default assumption some time ago: instead of assuming any given cop is okay until they demonstrate otherwise, I now assume they're power-tripping fascist shitheads until they give me reason to believe otherwise.

[Enthusiast]

42. Even the good apples?

I see by your flag that you are from Ohio too.

[Deep13]

51. If you add a quart of clean oil to four quarts of dirty oil...

...you get five quarts of dirty oil. Those intending to be good cops don't make the department better. The department makes them worse. That's why I left the legal profession. It takes dedicated, idealistic young people and teaches them to be sociopaths.

[Enthusiast]

52. I was only kidding, Deep13.

I've seen how the good ol' boys club uses subtle coercion to undermine an individual's resistance to the dark side.

[sakabatou]

34. Ugh...

[left-of-center2012]

35. And a cops usual defense is ...

"I feared for my life." Well, OK then.

[damnedifIknow]

39. Yes, "I feared for my life"

and another phrase they seem to like is "stop resisting."

[frylock]

44. fuck tha police

[tomm2thumbs]

45. But they have a mission statement!

Our Mission

The mission of the Hawthorne Police Department is to provide a safe and secure community for its citizens while at the same time promoting a high degree of professionalism and respect for human dignity. *

CHIEF ROBERT FAGER

________

I wonder if Officers Jeffrey Salmon, Jeffrey Tysl, Erica Bristow and Mark Hultgren ever read that mission statement or took it to heart.



* from the police department website
http://hawthornepolice.com/about-us/