I hope this is the right place to post this. I feel it does have to do with disabilities act so I think this is the right place.
This is about something that happened to me 3 years ago and I'm sharing it for a few reasons. First of all it's about a mistake I made and I completely live up to that mistake and it's one in which I will never make again.
I was pulled over for speeding. I had just left a bar that I was hired to perform a retirement party for (I'm a magician). The people who hired me to do the show where friends so after my show I hung around for the rest of the party. I'm sure you can guess what comes next. I was arrested for what they later found to be "impaired driving". By blood test determined that I was right at the limit of .08. So I was barely over the legal limit. I later found out that the officer decided to test me on the grounds that I had just pulled out of a bar and my speech is slurred (Because of my deafness). I ended up with a fine and a restricted license for a period of time.
This isn't about the crime for I know it was wrong and I learned from it. It was the only time I had ever gone to jail and I never plan to go there again. But some things happened during this experience that I don't think was right as far as the way they handled it and their lack of resources for the deaf.
You see. When I told the officer I was deaf and knew they were arresting me. I told them that I refuse to reply to anything further without an interpreter. I didn't want to misunderstand anything to make the situation worse. Then another police car showed up and a lady police officer tried to sign to me. I could tell she didn't really know sign language. In fact as she was trying to finger spell words she didn't finish a single word correctly. You could see on her face that she was trying to remember how to sign the letters. So that was no help at all.
Next I'm put in a holding cell with other people. I asked to make my phone call but they had no TTY in the jail. I later found out that my car was towed because I couldn't call anyone to pick it up. I never even knew I had that option. How they solved the problem was there was another guy in jail that kind of knew me from around town. I didn't really know the guy but I did recognize him as someone I might wave to around town and I might have talked to him before in passing but I don't really know him. Don't even know his name. But they let him make my phone call for me to tell my girlfriend what was going on.
Now, over the next few hours I saw officers calling on people and they would be removed from the holding cell. I later found out they were either being taken to their own private cell, released or other reasons. But I also noticed that sometimes they would call someones name, look and see a person sleeping in the holding cell, then just leave them there. So from what I gathered by observing this is if I fall asleep I wouldn't know they called my name and they would pass me on and move on to someone else. I of course wanted to get out of there as soon as I could so I had to stay up all night. So in all I was awake for about 30 hours for I had been up all day prior to this night.
So there I was. Can't make a phone call, can't find out what's going on. No one telling me what's to happen next.
Eventually we are all removed from our cell. I was kept in that holding cell all night. I knew it was morning for breakfast had arrived a couple of hours before. I have no idea where they are taking us. We end up in a room and were all handed a piece of paper to fill out. As I sit down to fill it out I see a guy sitting and facing a TV screen. At first I thought he was watching some court TV show but then I saw the guy talk to the screen. On the screen was a judge sitting at a desk. So it dawned on me that they go to court right there in that room via remote camera. I went to a guard near by and asked, "Is this court?" The guard gave me a dirty look and went "Shhhh". I waited and waited then they came to me. I said, "I don't know what's going on but it looks like they are going to court on that TV. I hope you have an interpreter here because I'm not going to court without one. By the look on the officers face he didn't know what I was talking about. So I told him I was deaf and there's no way I can go to court on a TV.
The sat me down in front of the TV anyway. The judge was writing on a piece of paper and the guard put his finger up as if saying, "Wait a minute" then pointed to a fax machine. So I put it together that the judge was writing and planning on faxing it to me. I thought to myself that this was nuts and not right. Evidently the judge finally felt that was too for after a moment the judge stopped writing and tore the paper up. Then she looked and said something to the camera that I couldn't pick up. So the judge realized that this won't work. I was taken back to the holding cell then about 3 or 4 hours later I was released and went home. Still not knowing exactly whats going on or what to do next.
A few days later I got mail that finally explained more details and when I had to go to court. I ended up having to go to court 4 times for this. The first two times was because they couldn't find an interpreter free for that time. The third times was because the blood test hadn't come in yet. When it finally did and I saw that I was right at the legal limit. I plead guilty and paid for my mistake.
Now, I of course did some research and found many things they did wrong and illegal. For instance from the deaf persons act:
From the Deaf persons interpreters act.
There are many others if you care to visit the above link. Such as the court house and jail not having a TTY. trying to put me through court even after I requested an interpreter and the officer trying to interpret even thought she didn't know ASL.
Now for my question. I found out later that I could have made a civil suit about some of these issues but by the time I found out it was too late. I mean I had no intention of trying to get away with my crime for I pleated guilty. It was the underlying issues I was upset about. But now I want to find out what I can do to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else. I mean they need to learn how to deal with a deaf person and have the proper technology such as the TTY's. Not everyone one who ends up in a holding cell is a criminal. Some are wrongfully charged or there could be many other reasons. And deaf people won't have equal rights to know what's going on or be able to defend themselves. I know of one other deaf person in my area who has been effected. He was put in a cell because he matched the description of someone they were looking for. He spent almost 24 hours in there not knowing exactly what was going on.
So, for the sake of others in my area. What can I do about this?
Thanks for your time.
Ron Jaxon
This is about something that happened to me 3 years ago and I'm sharing it for a few reasons. First of all it's about a mistake I made and I completely live up to that mistake and it's one in which I will never make again.
I was pulled over for speeding. I had just left a bar that I was hired to perform a retirement party for (I'm a magician). The people who hired me to do the show where friends so after my show I hung around for the rest of the party. I'm sure you can guess what comes next. I was arrested for what they later found to be "impaired driving". By blood test determined that I was right at the limit of .08. So I was barely over the legal limit. I later found out that the officer decided to test me on the grounds that I had just pulled out of a bar and my speech is slurred (Because of my deafness). I ended up with a fine and a restricted license for a period of time.
This isn't about the crime for I know it was wrong and I learned from it. It was the only time I had ever gone to jail and I never plan to go there again. But some things happened during this experience that I don't think was right as far as the way they handled it and their lack of resources for the deaf.
You see. When I told the officer I was deaf and knew they were arresting me. I told them that I refuse to reply to anything further without an interpreter. I didn't want to misunderstand anything to make the situation worse. Then another police car showed up and a lady police officer tried to sign to me. I could tell she didn't really know sign language. In fact as she was trying to finger spell words she didn't finish a single word correctly. You could see on her face that she was trying to remember how to sign the letters. So that was no help at all.
Next I'm put in a holding cell with other people. I asked to make my phone call but they had no TTY in the jail. I later found out that my car was towed because I couldn't call anyone to pick it up. I never even knew I had that option. How they solved the problem was there was another guy in jail that kind of knew me from around town. I didn't really know the guy but I did recognize him as someone I might wave to around town and I might have talked to him before in passing but I don't really know him. Don't even know his name. But they let him make my phone call for me to tell my girlfriend what was going on.
Now, over the next few hours I saw officers calling on people and they would be removed from the holding cell. I later found out they were either being taken to their own private cell, released or other reasons. But I also noticed that sometimes they would call someones name, look and see a person sleeping in the holding cell, then just leave them there. So from what I gathered by observing this is if I fall asleep I wouldn't know they called my name and they would pass me on and move on to someone else. I of course wanted to get out of there as soon as I could so I had to stay up all night. So in all I was awake for about 30 hours for I had been up all day prior to this night.
So there I was. Can't make a phone call, can't find out what's going on. No one telling me what's to happen next.
Eventually we are all removed from our cell. I was kept in that holding cell all night. I knew it was morning for breakfast had arrived a couple of hours before. I have no idea where they are taking us. We end up in a room and were all handed a piece of paper to fill out. As I sit down to fill it out I see a guy sitting and facing a TV screen. At first I thought he was watching some court TV show but then I saw the guy talk to the screen. On the screen was a judge sitting at a desk. So it dawned on me that they go to court right there in that room via remote camera. I went to a guard near by and asked, "Is this court?" The guard gave me a dirty look and went "Shhhh". I waited and waited then they came to me. I said, "I don't know what's going on but it looks like they are going to court on that TV. I hope you have an interpreter here because I'm not going to court without one. By the look on the officers face he didn't know what I was talking about. So I told him I was deaf and there's no way I can go to court on a TV.
The sat me down in front of the TV anyway. The judge was writing on a piece of paper and the guard put his finger up as if saying, "Wait a minute" then pointed to a fax machine. So I put it together that the judge was writing and planning on faxing it to me. I thought to myself that this was nuts and not right. Evidently the judge finally felt that was too for after a moment the judge stopped writing and tore the paper up. Then she looked and said something to the camera that I couldn't pick up. So the judge realized that this won't work. I was taken back to the holding cell then about 3 or 4 hours later I was released and went home. Still not knowing exactly whats going on or what to do next.
A few days later I got mail that finally explained more details and when I had to go to court. I ended up having to go to court 4 times for this. The first two times was because they couldn't find an interpreter free for that time. The third times was because the blood test hadn't come in yet. When it finally did and I saw that I was right at the legal limit. I plead guilty and paid for my mistake.
Now, I of course did some research and found many things they did wrong and illegal. For instance from the deaf persons act:
From the Deaf persons interpreters act.
There are many others if you care to visit the above link. Such as the court house and jail not having a TTY. trying to put me through court even after I requested an interpreter and the officer trying to interpret even thought she didn't know ASL.
Now for my question. I found out later that I could have made a civil suit about some of these issues but by the time I found out it was too late. I mean I had no intention of trying to get away with my crime for I pleated guilty. It was the underlying issues I was upset about. But now I want to find out what I can do to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else. I mean they need to learn how to deal with a deaf person and have the proper technology such as the TTY's. Not everyone one who ends up in a holding cell is a criminal. Some are wrongfully charged or there could be many other reasons. And deaf people won't have equal rights to know what's going on or be able to defend themselves. I know of one other deaf person in my area who has been effected. He was put in a cell because he matched the description of someone they were looking for. He spent almost 24 hours in there not knowing exactly what was going on.
So, for the sake of others in my area. What can I do about this?
Thanks for your time.
Ron Jaxon
