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AUTHORITIES IN NORTH Carolina have said they are investigating the death of a deaf man who was fatally shot after a trooper tried to pull him over for speeding.
Daniel Harris (29), who used sign language to communicate, led trooper Jermaine Saunders on an eight-mile (13km) chase last Thursday that started on an interstate highway and ended outside his home in Charlotte, local television station WSOC reported.
The driver exited his vehicle in the neighbourhood and an “encounter took place” that led to a shot being fired, North Carolina State Highway Patrol spokesman Sergeant Michael Baker said in a statement.
The driver died at the scene, Baker said. No weapon was recovered from Harris, the State Bureau of Investigation told WSOC.
Saunders has been placed on administrative leave while investigators review evidence, including dashboard and body camera videos.
A neighbour called the shooting “totally unacceptable”.
“He didn’t even hear the siren, he didn’t hear anything … You’re pulling someone over who is deaf,” Mark Barringer told WSOC.
Fundraiser
Harris’s family have launched an online fundraiser to pay for funeral expenses.
Leftover money “will be used to set up a foundation in his name to educate and provide law enforcement [with] proper training” on how to approach people who are deaf, the family’s fundraising page said.
They said they hope to change drivers’ registration systems so that police will know if a driver is deaf when they look up a car’s licence plate number.
“With this change, Daniel will be a hero,” the family said.
At the time of publication, over $14,000 (about €12,300) has been raised.
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Firstly a cop should never kill someone for committing a minor traffic offence of this nature.
However the driver should have pulled over; I find it difficult to believe that he did not see the lights for 13km!
Wonder how many times he had been shot at during routine traffic stop or indeed how many of his colleagues have been killed during same. Its wasnt a ballygobackwards Garda stop. He s a state trooper in the US.
“Wonder how many times he had been shot at during routine traffic stop or indeed how many of his colleagues have been killed during same.”
The assumption that every time you’ll be shot by someone is what contributes to the terrible situation of innocent people being shot by police, state troopers, whoever, throughout the US every year. Even if they’re not innocent they don’t, as Proinsias points out, deserve to be shot to death for minor offenses.
F__king ridiculous situation with another tragic outcome.
38 police shot and killed on duty in America last year. There are more than 1 million police officers. Even 1 is too many but the reaction is disproportionate. Also interesting that the same logic is not used to defend black people.
I doubt he shot him for the traffic offence, it’s whatever happened after he exited his car that led the officer to shoot. I’d reserve judgment until the footage is reviewed. Right now it sounds very B/W, but the media are painting it that way. Unfortunately this is America, and many, many cops are shot each year during ‘routine’ traffic stops, some die, more are injured. I’m not excusing the man being shot, however we definitely don’t know the full story on this yet.
He has eyes, right???
Does that mean he leaves his brain in his locker, seems to be the case in all theses incidents , a serious lack of intelligence , they need to up their entranced standard , and not like the civil service here giving out future Gardai maths problems and graphs , but common sense tests , to see if they actually have any …we are in trouble here too with the selection process of our new recruits , and it will bite in a few years …. Common sense is not that common it seems …
Stephen, the very fact the guy was shot dead and didn’t have a weapon means that disproportionate force was used. That means manslaughter or murder. It is as simple as that.
How many have been shot Stephen? Injured or paralysed. 38 police officers dead in one year is way too high. Its easy to say oh they shouldn’t do it we will never be in that situation.
He was shot for failing to pull over! the ignorant uneducated cop didn’t understand him doing sign language, or even TAKE the time to understand him, instead shot him and killed him.
He was deaf, and did sign language. the cop was a trigger happy guy, killing an unarmed man.
On the question of intelligence http://thefreethoughtproject.com/court-police-departments-refuse-hire-smart/
Assuming he could see it was a police car and see the lights but still led cop on a 13km chase. I can’t comment on the circumstances of the shooting but you can’t claim he didn’t know he was being pursued by the police
Peter have you never been followed by a police car, seems reasonable that the driver was inocent and had nothing to hide. He was murdered by trigger happy cops……
No Chris. I’ve never been followed for 13km by a police car especially one with its lights flashing. That would be enough to tip off most drivers that the cop wanted you to pull over. What happened after that I can’t say
I would be interested to see video from chase, or was really a chase?
People dont see police cars even with blues and twos on half the time. Mirrors are just not used most of the time.
Peter, if you lived in rural Ireland you would be well used to having a police car up your tail for 13km or more. How is a driver supposed to know that the police car might just be travelling in the same direction.. I don’t believe the flashing lights bit, if the cops wanted the driver to pull over they would have overtaken him and directed him to stop. They would in this country anyway…..
So Chris during that 13km journey you wont t consider pulling over to let the police car pass you so they could get to their emergency quicker
If you can’t hear or see sirens, you shouldn’t be driving.
He could have pulled up in front of him to pull him over. I do agree that blind people shouldn’t be driving.
I can’t see sirens. Where do I hand in my licence?
He really should have seen the sirens and know he was being chased by the cops but there was still no excuse for the cop to have shot him though ..
Well that was well worth taking the time to type wasn’t it?
Just ike your comment was …
I happen to believe that if you’re incapable of knowing there’s an ambulance with somebody in cardiac arrest in it trying to get past you, you shouldn’t be driving. I’d consider that common sense, and a perfectly valid angle on this story.
James , why don’t you calm down and read my comment again …
James do yoy also happen to believe that the punishmebr for not obeying the non-existent ban on deaf drivers, should be sunmary execution by police?
If you can’t educate yourself on deaf culture, you shouldn’t be commenting!!
Go educate yourself on deaf culture! many of us live normal lives, we are normal people, we can drive, EVERYONE has to pass a test to see if they’re fit to drive, and a lot of us can drive normally! tell me honestly, would you be looking in your mirror watching for blue flashing lights/trooper lights every second? and I’m guessing you’re the type who plays music so loud in the car that even YOU cannot hear the sirens!
I’m sick of the generalisation, stereotyping that happens towards deaf people.
If I was deaf I’d compensate for it by looking in my rear-view mirror more often. The point is, of course a deaf person can see the lights on a police car, but if he was driving in such a way that he didn’t spot them for 13km then he was driving dangerously and should have his licence taken off him. You’re an idiot if I may say so, because I was commenting on the case of this particular idiot and made no generalizations whatsoever.
James, a deaf man was shot dead for not pulling over. Don’t try justify it or call the driver an idiot
You’re the idiot! Did you even read my comment? Do me a favour please and go educate yourself on deaf culture! When driving a car nobody has their eye on the mirror all the time, this guy didn’t understand why he was being chased, the state trooper did NOT ATTEMPT to deal with the situation rationally, instead frightened a young man, who cannot hear and cannot communicate with a hearing person in the normal way. Hearing people who don’t understand sign language, can lead to a situation like this!
I’m done justifying myself and my culture to an ignorant person like you!
America. Not even once.
Comment of the week
The cop obviously has the incar technology to run a check on the license plate.
Why kill someone for a traffic offence?
I just don’t get it.
I’m not justifying it but the 13km chase may have had something to do with it – extreme resisting arrest and putting other lives at risk. I read elsewhere that both cars were damaged so if this correct then surely Mr Harris was aware that he was being pursued. To subdue is one thing but what I don’t get is the unjustifiable general trigger happy ‘shoot now, ask questions later’ police response, they’re not isolated incidents and surely the officer must have been aware of the media attention the shooting would generate. However it’s the States responsibility to train their police and not a private foundation so would it not be better for the family to redirect leftover money to a deaf fund
#DeafLivesMatter
Lot of assumptions being made here.
Back in the seventies I was working in the States. One day, whilst driving, in my rear mirror I saw an unmarked car approaching. It had two orange lights placed between the headlamps. They were flashing alternately – left, right, left, right. There was no siren.
I remember asking myself is that a cop car? I decided well, if it was, it would turn on some siren and overtake to pull in.
Boy, was I wrong!
A patrol car with the usual flashing lights came from a side exit and pulled across the road in front of me. A uniformed state trooper (driver) jumped out and pointed his pistol straight at me. I stopped the car. The car that had been following me stopped alongside, another trooper was in this car. He got out and told me to exit my car; on doing so he kicked my left leg into the straddle position, then frisked me down. After checking my registration he told me to go.
I have often wondered what would have happened if I had acted differently.
It turned out that two prisoners had escaped from the state pen that day. I assume they were just “checking me out”
So mistakes can be made. Not all cop cars have blue lights and sirens like in the movies.
Trisec: Nice one, I wonder how would they acted if you were deaf and didn’t understand.
They would have killed him no doubt. An uneducated state trooper in the matters of deaf culture, a man doing ASL, could be seen as ‘intimidating gestures’ and shot.
I am deaf myself, and this horrifies and scares me.
I how that cop rots in jail.
Deaf lives matter?
Pardon?
Outrageous! A good stint in Templemore is what these trigger happy coppers need
Did he not see the flashing lights ?
Obviously the cop didn’t bother to ask him – ‘did he not see the flashing lights,’ instead just shot him dead.
Chris. Are you in possession of information the rest of us don’t have or are you just jumping to conclusions in stating “Obviously the cop didn’t bother to ask him, instead just shot him dead.
Do you know that there was an altercation with the Police Officer after he exited the car. And that he had previous run in’s with Police in other states.
Now I see why so many criminals arm themselves in America. To protect themselves from cops!
What most people here don’t seem to realise is theAmerican police presumption that people may be armed.
American society has gone to the dogs if it is the police procedure to shoot first and ask questions later.
Thank god he’s not black!
Some people undoubtedly assumed that he was, and were looking forward to getting themselves new plasma TVs and a few crates of booze during the looting, but their plans came to nothing.
They don’t make Plasma TVs anymore Ted, much to my disappointment as these LED/LCD yokes aren’t half as good.
Now OLED is a different matter…but back to the looting!
i’m not up to scratch on the latest “must have” looting technology, as I don’t subscribe to Riot Monthly. :(
I presume that there is much more to this story than what is being reported. As many have already stated he drove for 13 Km and supposedly didn’t see Red and Blue flashing lights in his mirrors. If the Dash and Body Cam footage is released it will be interesting to see why the Officer felt it necessary to open fire.
This was obviously what looks like a murder of an innocent man. However in the cause of balance you should check out that vid online which is a collection of cop cams where cops are shot pulling people in cars and probably has a few dozen cop deaths in it. It was compiled to show the reaction time that cops have when assessing a threat which can be less than split second. Its certainly a shocking piece. The land of gun freedom is no model for any society anywhere. As for this poor guy he paid the price demanded by that society. The NRA’s freedoms mean innocent deaths generally.
Ueah, we should totally let unrelated incidents justify this. There were 38 police shot and killed in America last year, thats out of over 1 million police.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article96565352.html Clearer details. Tragic story. Might be insensitive to raise the point & sad that is necessary but would a sticker or different colour number plate be helpful in these situations?
It seems this guy is far from innocent. The video footage should clear things up.
The fact that he stopped at home would lead me to believe that he had no idea he was being pursued
Black lives ma… oh wait. Carry on.
“Leftover money “will be used to set up a foundation in his name to educate and provide law enforcement [with] proper training” on how to approach people who are deaf,”
I think we can leave the deaf part out here. This is happening way too often lately. Way to quick with the trigger and always the killshot.
Dead or not there’s no excuse to shoot any body unarmed
Just a genuine question. Is it legal for a deaf person to hold a driving licence?
BULLSH*T!!! I’m deaf and I have a driving licence!! go educate yourself you ignorant idiot!
Trigger happy police killing an unarmed DEAF man, I’m glad I don’t live in the US… Police forces should be educated on how to communicate/deal with deaf people, to prevent this from happening again
They must have to reach a certain quota of there or something.
regular cops should not have guns .period
No cop with half a brain would get out of his patrol car without a gun! Criminals would be emboldened. Genie is well out of that bottle in America. Better training, maybe but cops without guns would be terrible for the general population. Just listening to Rte news – gardai found some kind of a hand gun – I think that fires 20 rounds a second – it’s a nasty world and mostly good cops put themselves in the line of fire everyday to protect their community.
Trigger happy cop. Did the cop perceive that his life was in danger? Its ok to shoot then, not ok to kill someone who appeared to disobey the officer.
Police brutality or police stupidity. Take your pick.
But … he’s white.
Under a recently signed NC law, police cams are no longer made public unfortunately
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