rockin'robin
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challenges, describing her potentially deadly arrest
Four letters, scrawled in the dust of an NYPD patrol car, became a terrified woman’s only hope of survival: H-O-S-P.
Diana Williams, a deaf New Yorker who’s also unable to speak, traced the cryptic message with her index finger after contorting her body so her cuffed hands reached the side of the car.
“Hospital,” she then mouthed as tears spilled in soundless sobs. “Help. Help. Please. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.”
When a police officer nodded that he understood, she cried even harder — with relief. But the deaf woman’s ordeal was far from over.
Williams, 48, says she was an upbeat, confident woman before her still-stunning arrest after calling the police for help on Sept. 11, 2011. Now she’s in the third year of a bitter legal fight with the NYPD, still racked by the lingering terror from her 24 hours in police custody. “I have never been so terrified in my life,” Williams told the Daily News, through an interpreter.
“The NYPD needs to know how to treat deaf people. One woman officer made fun of me, waving her hands at me when I tried to speak. “Another woman officer grabbed me and pushed me up against the wall when I reached to pat her hand — that’s how deaf people signal we want someone’s attention . . . they didn’t even know that basic thing.” Born in the Bronx to hearing parents, she built a happy life despite her hearing challenges. She married one of her post office co-workers, Chris Williams, 48, who is also deaf. The couple has two kids, who are also unable to hear.
Williams filed a Manhattan Federal Court lawsuit against the NYPD in 2012, alleging her civil rights were violated by the arrest outside her Staten Island home.
The cops were only there, according to Williams’ lawsuit, because she called for aid in evicting a difficult tenant.
The petite, dark-haired woman is considered a “fossilized” English user. She can read and write simple, basic words, but signing remains her first language.
Cops found four deaf people waiting when they arrived at the house: Williams, her husband, her brother and the tenant, a deaf woman. Only the tenant’s hearing roommate and her hearing boyfriend, who were also present, could talk to the cops.
According to documents obtained by The News, the 911 call clearly stated a deaf family was in need of help.
Yet the two 122nd Precinct cops had no idea how to communicate by sign and despite 45 minutes on the scene, never summoned anyone who could.
The NYPD, in a 2009 consent decree resolving Americans with Disabilities Act violations, agreed to revise its handling of cases involving the deaf. Special training for officers, including steps for taking a deaf person into custody, was promised — along with sign-language interpreters available 24 hours a day.
Yet Officer Christopher Romano checked the “No” box on the arrest report asking if an interpreter was needed. He later checked “No” on different paperwork asking if Williams had a disability.
Records also indicate Romano decided Williams and her tenant got into a scuffle — and arrested both. It’s not clear how Romano reached his conclusion, other than noting that he saw a scratch on Williams’ cheek and minor injuries on the tenant.
He cuffed Williams’ hands behind her back and bundled the panicked woman into his police car. And then — unable to explain to any of the deaf people what was happening — he drove away.
For the next 24 hours, Williams’ lawsuit claims, she was systematically ignored — as were her family’s repeated efforts to communicate with cops, including via text and written notes.
Chris Williams said he brought a sign language interpreter to the precinct, only to have cops tell them to leave or face arrest.
Inside the precinct, Diana Williams stood for several hours with one arm shackled to a wall — until her anxiety got so bad she started hyperventilating. None of the police officers responded to her obvious distress, her suit says. When cops took her to another precinct, she made her desperate effort to spell out a plea for help with the only tools she had — one finger, and a dirty car.
That earned her a trip to Richmond University Hospital, where a sympathetic interpreter finally heard Diana’s tale.
The interpreter was only there to translate for doctors, but she did take a moment to tell cops that Williams wanted someone who could sign back at the precinct. With one cop nodding unconvincingly, another officer apparently knew enough sign language to communicate one word. “I saw him make a gesture, and it was clear. He signed ‘bulls---,’ ” Diana Williams recalled.
She wound up shackled and back in police custody, spending the night in cuffs, with another hospital visit when her breathing didn’t improve. There was no interpreter the second time, and Williams was given a shot that knocked her out, her suit said.
When she woke up a short time later, cops brought her back to the precinct and locked her up again. Her ordeal ended when the police dropped all charges.
The Department of Justice brokered the 2009 deal with the NYPD after numerous complaints about the police treatment of the deaf, said Eric Baum, partner at Eisenberg and Baum.
“There were complaints of deaf discrimination, and the NYPD was required to enter into this consent decree to avoid litigation,” Baum said. “Had they not, the DOJ would have pursued the matter in court.”
The new approach was not apparent in the April 1, 2014. arrest of retired Bronx bus driver Robert Rapa — who is also deaf.
The 65-year-old says he, like Williams, was arrested, cuffed and thrown in jail for almost 24 hours after he appealed to cops to help him. Rapa has Parkinson’s disease. The shaking makes it difficult to use his hands while he signs — and he says it only got worse after his run-in with cops.
NYPD documents obtained by The News show that Rapa’s torment began around 4 p.m., as he was driving slowly along Longwood Ave. A woman, taking advantage of his snail’s pace, opened the back door, reached in and grabbed his wallet from the middle console. Then she took off.
Rapa ran to a nearby police station and flagged down a cop. Gesturing that he was deaf and had been robbed, he led cops to the house where the woman fled.
But when police arrived, she claimed Rapa tried to harm her — and he was cuffed and taken away, according to a Manhattan Federal Court lawsuit filed two months ago. From his cell inside the 41st Precinct, Rapa watched as Officer Jose Almonte flipped through his confiscated items — including the Parkinson’s medications and a card explaining that he was deaf. Rapa had no way to communicate to the officer that he had to take a pill every three hours, his suit says.
As time passed, Rapa’s affliction worsened — to the point where he shook so ferociously, the handcuffs bit into his flesh.
Barry Williams/for New York Daily News
Bronx bus driver Robert Rapa (right, with Diana Williams), who is also deaf, spoke of his own harrowing arrest in April 2014.
Finally, cops brought him to nearby Lincoln Medical Center. But according to his lawsuit, nobody there tried to get him an interpreter either.
He was hauled back to the precinct, still cuffed and shaking uncontrollably, Rapa told The News. His lawsuit named Lincoln Medical Center, too. “By the time I was released, the following day, I could barely drive, I was in such terrible condition,” Rapa said.
In both cases, federal, state and city discrimination laws were violated, said Andrew Rozynski, deaf rights attorney with Eisenberg and Baum.
“The federal American Disabilities Act requires that deaf people be provided with auxiliary aids and services, so they can effectively communicate — that can be an interpreter or some other aid, so they can communicate as equally as possible as a hearing person would,” he said.
The NYPD issued a statement saying it was “exploring ways to add more qualified sign-language interpreters.”
Six years after the agreement, the statement added, the NYPD was working with the deaf community “to develop training for our officers.”
The city Law Department declined to comment.
The city Health and Hospitals Corp., which runs Lincoln, issued the following statement:
"HHC cares for a very diverse population and we are highly sensitive to our multicultural patients. All of our hospitals provide interpretation for over 200 different languages and dialects, as well as communication services for the visually and aurally impaired. We cannot comment on pending litigation or matters of patient privacy."
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...ypd-learn-treat-deaf-people-article-1.2225278
Four letters, scrawled in the dust of an NYPD patrol car, became a terrified woman’s only hope of survival: H-O-S-P.
Diana Williams, a deaf New Yorker who’s also unable to speak, traced the cryptic message with her index finger after contorting her body so her cuffed hands reached the side of the car.
“Hospital,” she then mouthed as tears spilled in soundless sobs. “Help. Help. Please. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.”
When a police officer nodded that he understood, she cried even harder — with relief. But the deaf woman’s ordeal was far from over.
Williams, 48, says she was an upbeat, confident woman before her still-stunning arrest after calling the police for help on Sept. 11, 2011. Now she’s in the third year of a bitter legal fight with the NYPD, still racked by the lingering terror from her 24 hours in police custody. “I have never been so terrified in my life,” Williams told the Daily News, through an interpreter.
“The NYPD needs to know how to treat deaf people. One woman officer made fun of me, waving her hands at me when I tried to speak. “Another woman officer grabbed me and pushed me up against the wall when I reached to pat her hand — that’s how deaf people signal we want someone’s attention . . . they didn’t even know that basic thing.” Born in the Bronx to hearing parents, she built a happy life despite her hearing challenges. She married one of her post office co-workers, Chris Williams, 48, who is also deaf. The couple has two kids, who are also unable to hear.
Williams filed a Manhattan Federal Court lawsuit against the NYPD in 2012, alleging her civil rights were violated by the arrest outside her Staten Island home.
The cops were only there, according to Williams’ lawsuit, because she called for aid in evicting a difficult tenant.
The petite, dark-haired woman is considered a “fossilized” English user. She can read and write simple, basic words, but signing remains her first language.
Cops found four deaf people waiting when they arrived at the house: Williams, her husband, her brother and the tenant, a deaf woman. Only the tenant’s hearing roommate and her hearing boyfriend, who were also present, could talk to the cops.
According to documents obtained by The News, the 911 call clearly stated a deaf family was in need of help.
Yet the two 122nd Precinct cops had no idea how to communicate by sign and despite 45 minutes on the scene, never summoned anyone who could.
The NYPD, in a 2009 consent decree resolving Americans with Disabilities Act violations, agreed to revise its handling of cases involving the deaf. Special training for officers, including steps for taking a deaf person into custody, was promised — along with sign-language interpreters available 24 hours a day.
Yet Officer Christopher Romano checked the “No” box on the arrest report asking if an interpreter was needed. He later checked “No” on different paperwork asking if Williams had a disability.
Records also indicate Romano decided Williams and her tenant got into a scuffle — and arrested both. It’s not clear how Romano reached his conclusion, other than noting that he saw a scratch on Williams’ cheek and minor injuries on the tenant.
He cuffed Williams’ hands behind her back and bundled the panicked woman into his police car. And then — unable to explain to any of the deaf people what was happening — he drove away.
For the next 24 hours, Williams’ lawsuit claims, she was systematically ignored — as were her family’s repeated efforts to communicate with cops, including via text and written notes.
Chris Williams said he brought a sign language interpreter to the precinct, only to have cops tell them to leave or face arrest.
Inside the precinct, Diana Williams stood for several hours with one arm shackled to a wall — until her anxiety got so bad she started hyperventilating. None of the police officers responded to her obvious distress, her suit says. When cops took her to another precinct, she made her desperate effort to spell out a plea for help with the only tools she had — one finger, and a dirty car.
That earned her a trip to Richmond University Hospital, where a sympathetic interpreter finally heard Diana’s tale.
The interpreter was only there to translate for doctors, but she did take a moment to tell cops that Williams wanted someone who could sign back at the precinct. With one cop nodding unconvincingly, another officer apparently knew enough sign language to communicate one word. “I saw him make a gesture, and it was clear. He signed ‘bulls---,’ ” Diana Williams recalled.
She wound up shackled and back in police custody, spending the night in cuffs, with another hospital visit when her breathing didn’t improve. There was no interpreter the second time, and Williams was given a shot that knocked her out, her suit said.
When she woke up a short time later, cops brought her back to the precinct and locked her up again. Her ordeal ended when the police dropped all charges.
The Department of Justice brokered the 2009 deal with the NYPD after numerous complaints about the police treatment of the deaf, said Eric Baum, partner at Eisenberg and Baum.
“There were complaints of deaf discrimination, and the NYPD was required to enter into this consent decree to avoid litigation,” Baum said. “Had they not, the DOJ would have pursued the matter in court.”
The new approach was not apparent in the April 1, 2014. arrest of retired Bronx bus driver Robert Rapa — who is also deaf.
The 65-year-old says he, like Williams, was arrested, cuffed and thrown in jail for almost 24 hours after he appealed to cops to help him. Rapa has Parkinson’s disease. The shaking makes it difficult to use his hands while he signs — and he says it only got worse after his run-in with cops.
NYPD documents obtained by The News show that Rapa’s torment began around 4 p.m., as he was driving slowly along Longwood Ave. A woman, taking advantage of his snail’s pace, opened the back door, reached in and grabbed his wallet from the middle console. Then she took off.
Rapa ran to a nearby police station and flagged down a cop. Gesturing that he was deaf and had been robbed, he led cops to the house where the woman fled.
But when police arrived, she claimed Rapa tried to harm her — and he was cuffed and taken away, according to a Manhattan Federal Court lawsuit filed two months ago. From his cell inside the 41st Precinct, Rapa watched as Officer Jose Almonte flipped through his confiscated items — including the Parkinson’s medications and a card explaining that he was deaf. Rapa had no way to communicate to the officer that he had to take a pill every three hours, his suit says.
As time passed, Rapa’s affliction worsened — to the point where he shook so ferociously, the handcuffs bit into his flesh.
Barry Williams/for New York Daily News
Bronx bus driver Robert Rapa (right, with Diana Williams), who is also deaf, spoke of his own harrowing arrest in April 2014.
Finally, cops brought him to nearby Lincoln Medical Center. But according to his lawsuit, nobody there tried to get him an interpreter either.
He was hauled back to the precinct, still cuffed and shaking uncontrollably, Rapa told The News. His lawsuit named Lincoln Medical Center, too. “By the time I was released, the following day, I could barely drive, I was in such terrible condition,” Rapa said.
In both cases, federal, state and city discrimination laws were violated, said Andrew Rozynski, deaf rights attorney with Eisenberg and Baum.
“The federal American Disabilities Act requires that deaf people be provided with auxiliary aids and services, so they can effectively communicate — that can be an interpreter or some other aid, so they can communicate as equally as possible as a hearing person would,” he said.
The NYPD issued a statement saying it was “exploring ways to add more qualified sign-language interpreters.”
Six years after the agreement, the statement added, the NYPD was working with the deaf community “to develop training for our officers.”
The city Law Department declined to comment.
The city Health and Hospitals Corp., which runs Lincoln, issued the following statement:
"HHC cares for a very diverse population and we are highly sensitive to our multicultural patients. All of our hospitals provide interpretation for over 200 different languages and dialects, as well as communication services for the visually and aurally impaired. We cannot comment on pending litigation or matters of patient privacy."
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...ypd-learn-treat-deaf-people-article-1.2225278