Deaf activist sues county, city over arrest, jail stay

Miss-Delectable

Miss-Delectable

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Deaf activist sues county, city over arrest, jail stay

Deaf activist Douglas Bahl was held in jail for three days without any means to communicate with family members or to seek legal advice after he scuffled with police during a routine traffic stop, according to a lawsuit filed in Ramsey County District Court.

Bahl, 57, ultimately was convicted of a misdemeanor crime in connection with the 2006 incident in St. Paul, but he and his wife now are suing the city, county and the Sheriff's Office to ensure that deaf and hearing-impaired people have the same access to communication as a hearing person, their attorney said Friday.

They also are seeking damages "in excess of $50,000" from the Police Department and the Sheriff's Office, the lawsuit said.

Sheriff Bob Fletcher said that they have worked with Bahl to improve their procedures since the incident and that he thought they had met his concerns.

City Attorney John Choi said that from the city's vantage point, it was Bahl, not the police, who acted inappropriately.

But Rick Macpherson, Bahl's attorney, said this is not an isolated incident. "There are a number of cases around the country where deaf people are held in jail and not provided with any means to communicate with people on the outside. They're lost; they get lost."

"It's something that's well known in the deaf community, something people are afraid of happening to them."

Bahl's arrest in November 2006 raised an Internet outcry. He was pulled over Nov. 17 while on his way to visit his girlfriend -- now his wife, Susan Kovacs-Bahl -- at a Minneapolis hospital.

Macpherson said Bahl tried to communicate in writing but the officer refused. There was a scuffle, and Bahl was sprayed with a chemical irritant and pulled from his vehicle. After being treated for his injuries at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, he was booked into the county jail.
 
Miss-Delectable said:
Deaf activist sues county, city over arrest, jail stay

Deaf activist Douglas Bahl was held in jail for three days without any means to communicate with family members or to seek legal advice after he scuffled with police during a routine traffic stop, according to a lawsuit filed in Ramsey County District Court.

Bahl, 57, ultimately was convicted of a misdemeanor crime in connection with the 2006 incident in St. Paul, but he and his wife now are suing the city, county and the Sheriff's Office to ensure that deaf and hearing-impaired people have the same access to communication as a hearing person, their attorney said Friday.

They also are seeking damages "in excess of $50,000" from the Police Department and the Sheriff's Office, the lawsuit said.

Sheriff Bob Fletcher said that they have worked with Bahl to improve their procedures since the incident and that he thought they had met his concerns.

City Attorney John Choi said that from the city's vantage point, it was Bahl, not the police, who acted inappropriately.

But Rick Macpherson, Bahl's attorney, said this is not an isolated incident. "There are a number of cases around the country where deaf people are held in jail and not provided with any means to communicate with people on the outside. They're lost; they get lost."

"It's something that's well known in the deaf community, something people are afraid of happening to them."

Bahl's arrest in November 2006 raised an Internet outcry. He was pulled over Nov. 17 while on his way to visit his girlfriend -- now his wife, Susan Kovacs-Bahl -- at a Minneapolis hospital.

Macpherson said Bahl tried to communicate in writing but the officer refused. There was a scuffle, and Bahl was sprayed with a chemical irritant and pulled from his vehicle. After being treated for his injuries at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, he was booked into the county jail.
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Good for Bahl for having the courage and the ethics to bring this treatment to the awareness of the general public. I wish him luck in this lawsuit.
 
not sure why this posted twice... deleted and read below.
 
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Oh, thank you for posting this!!! I thought the whole situation was over and done with...

I remember getting an email from a friend when the incident occurred. I had replied thinking it was a friend of his... Come to find out, it was my teacher of three years at the Saint Paul ITP!!!

This sounds like something he would do. Looking out for people who would come after him and making sure they will receive the accommodations they deserve. I wish him luck and congratulations on his marriage! Last I visited Sue and he were still dating.

Edit: realized there was a second page to the article and read it, I found this part upsetting.

"Frankly we thought we had accommodated all of his concerns. But when all is said and done, which included an extensive mediation, Mr. Bahl wanted money," Fletcher said.[quote/]

I think he is entitled to some compensation for his ordeal. They are trying to make him out to be the bad guy. For their slip ups they deserve a punishment as well. He got his with the misdemeanor conviction, its their turn now. "extensive mediation" sounds like they believe that having to pay for an interpreter to go through this mediation should suffice for 'retribution' of what they put him through.

His family was worried! He was expected somewhere and did not arrive... after time people begin to fear the worst. And how isolated he must have felt in jail that they did not offer him an interpreter and I doubt he would have refused access to a TTY. That just does not make sense...

I'm sorry to rant... I spent three years seeing Mr. Bahl 4 days a week and even though he was my teacher I would consider him a friend. I also took classes with Mrs. Kovacs-Bahl. This just upsets me to see him treated like this and to think of what his family had gone through.
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I understand where he is standing but suing city for 50,000 bucks? To me they are just want money out of it instead of going thru proper channels by change and work between deaf and police by starting at the top of ladder.
 
jazzy said:
I understand where he is standing but suing city for 50,000 bucks? To me they are just want money out of it instead of going thru proper channels by change and work between deaf and police by starting at the top of ladder.
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Dude, 50k is pretty cheap as far as lawsuits go, seriously. And he has a very winnable case. Everything oughta be all right for this guy.
 
dead money said:
Dude, 50k is pretty cheap as far as lawsuits go, seriously. And he has a very winnable case. Everything oughta be all right for this guy.
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Agreed. And, if you want to get their attention, the best place to hit is their wallet!
 
dead money said:
Dude, 50k is pretty cheap as far as lawsuits go, seriously. And he has a very winnable case. Everything oughta be all right for this guy.
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He broke the law and he should not get one dime out of our pocket. where do u think city got money from? Hard working citizens who faithfully paid their taxes to run the city. Yes I agree city need to update and improve but not our hard earning goes to that deaf man.
 
Jazzy, the sheriff's dept. broke the law by locking him up for 3 days without providing him with the means to contact anyone. They also broke the law by refusing to permit him to use pencil and paper to communicate with the officer in the first place.

Anyone who is arrested has the right to make a phone call to family and their attorney. They refused to allow him that right. And they refused to accommodate his disability by not permitting him to use pen and paper to communicate with the officer.

It was a routine traffic stop. If he had been hearing, the matter would have been handled with a ticket, and he would have been on his way. If they had of accommodated him by allowing him to use pencil and paper, the same thing would have happened. He would have been given a ticket and sent on his way.

This police department violated his rights in several ways.
 
jillio said:
Jazzy, the sheriff's dept. broke the law by locking him up for 3 days without providing him with the means to contact anyone. They also broke the law by refusing to permit him to use pencil and paper to communicate with the officer in the first place.

Anyone who is arrested has the right to make a phone call to family and their attorney. They refused to allow him that right. And they refused to accommodate his disability by not permitting him to use pen and paper to communicate with the officer.

It was a routine traffic stop. If he had been hearing, the matter would have been handled with a ticket, and he would have been on his way. If they had of accommodated him by allowing him to use pencil and paper, the same thing would have happened. He would have been given a ticket and sent on his way.

This police department violated his rights in several ways.
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I am aware of his situition, and I don't buy his whole story. And I disagree that he sues city and take money off people's hard earning. If police officers did something wrong with him then he should sue police officers for violate his civil rights, not people of city.
 
jazzy said:
I am aware of his situition, and I don't buy his whole story. And I disagree that he sues city and take money off people's hard earning. If police officers did something wrong with him then he should sue police officers for violate his civil rights, not people of city.
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I disagree with this. I think that the emotional and physical harm he endured plus the violation of his rights is sufficient basis for the law suit.

His family tried to file a missing person's report because they were not in contact with him. A hearing inmate offered to contact his family for him. Its in the article itself, and has been in all the articles that I have personally read.

Even if you are taking his story with a grain of salt, the wounds do not lie. I was sent pictures taken by Doug's son when they were finally able to be in contact and see him. I did not recognize him initially, despite having known him and seen him weekly for 3 years. His face was that bruised and swollen. The shirt he'd worn had a good amount of blood on it. This is a man in his 50s who is probably about 5'5" at most. The amount of force used I do not think was justified at all. Then there is the whole deal about communication once he was taken into custody... Laws are put in place for a reason. Doug has helped them with trying to fix the system for a situation like this, but how does that heal his personal pain and suffering?

Plus, if we took that lawsuits simply take money out of tax payers pockets it is true but then we may as well say no any government agency or public school should be sued for violating laws and rights of people, Deaf, disability, or whatever, because their money comes from the tax payers.

Edit: I also believe that in a lawsuit one is supposed to file claim against all parties involved. For example, the police individually, the department, and the county/state employing the department. Otherwise, people simply point fingers and pass the buck and nothing is done about it. Sue just an officer and he says he was just following orders of his department... department says they were following county regulation, etc.
 
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Why is that name familiar to me?
 
jazzy said:
I am aware of his situition, and I don't buy his whole story. And I disagree that he sues city and take money off people's hard earning. If police officers did something wrong with him then he should sue police officers for violate his civil rights, not people of city.
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He has to sue the city, as the police officer was working in an official capacity as an employee of the city. The city is considered to be responsible for the actions of the officers they employ.
 
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I know Doug and Sue fairly well. I live in the same city as they do, and see them frequently. I saw the same photos after the incident. I also heard first-hand from Sue and Doug how this all played out. Having said that, I was not there for the actual incident so I cannot vouch for exactly what went on between Doug and the police, but getting thrown in jail for several days (whether with justification or not) with no access to a TTY is NOT okay. This is by far not the first time an incident like this has happened to an individual who is deaf, or any other individual with any type of disability, and that needs to stop!
 
AlleyCat said:
I know Doug and Sue fairly well. I live in the same city as they do, and see them frequently. I saw the same photos after the incident. I also heard first-hand from Sue and Doug how this all played out. Having said that, I was not there for the actual incident so I cannot vouch for exactly what went on between Doug and the police, but getting thrown in jail for several days (whether with justification or not) with no access to a TTY is NOT okay. This is by far not the first time an incident like this has happened to an individual who is deaf, or any other individual with any type of disability, and that needs to stop!
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AGREED!!!! We should be thanking him for having the courage to stand up against this type of discrimination so that people will become aware and we can start to put an end to it.

If you speak with him or his family, AlleyCat, tell them they have my greatest admiration for their courage, and my sympathy for what he was forced to endure.
 
I have to stop here and thinking. We put the police officers risk their lives for our sakes. Yesterday on way home from our friend's house party and saw a police officer was injured by his suspect. I understand how those police officers deal with those people who resisit them and they fear for their lives. this man resisted the arrested so he got what he asked for it even thou I do not agree but sometime cops had no choice if this man refused to follow the order and then he acted alike deaf and dumb.Come on, I do not and will never to be pretend that I can not hear or play dumb with police officers if I ever get arrested, I would be cooperation and respect even thou I do not read their lips very well and know how to behave. Never argue with cops, kiss their asses. What he did was wrong and he wronged us in our deaf community then it made worst by suing city because they do not have accesses for the deaf. It is alike a person who is in wheel chair sued a motel who has handicap access but this person decided not like it and wanted motel to change it to better access and this person got alot of money. so my point is here that if this man win 50,000.00 bucks then what will he do with the money? Buy a boat? buy a ticket to travel? If he win the money then he should use the money to get vp at every jailhouse in the state of minnestoa and not keep money for himself. I don't agree with whole thing.
 
jazzy said:
I have to stop here and thinking. We put the police officers risk their lives for our sakes. Yesterday on way home from our friend's house party and saw a police officer was injured by his suspect. I understand how those police officers deal with those people who resisit them and they fear for their lives. this man resisted the arrested so he got what he asked for it even thou I do not agree but sometime cops had no choice if this man refused to follow the order and then he acted alike deaf and dumb.Come on, I do not and will never to be pretend that I can not hear or play dumb with police officers if I ever get arrested, I would be cooperation and respect even thou I do not read their lips very well and know how to behave. Never argue with cops, kiss their asses. What he did was wrong and he wronged us in our deaf community then it made worst by suing city because they do not have accesses for the deaf. It is alike a person who is in wheel chair sued a motel who has handicap access but this person decided not like it and wanted motel to change it to better access and this person got alot of money. so my point is here that if this man win 50,000.00 bucks then what will he do with the money? Buy a boat? buy a ticket to travel? If he win the money then he should use the money to get vp at every jailhouse in the state of minnestoa and not keep money for himself. I don't agree with whole thing.
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None of that has anything to do with the fact that the sherriff's department was in violation of Federal Law, and should be held responsible for it. It happened to Bahl this time. It could happen to you next. That is why it is important to bring situations like this to the attention of the public. It is the jail's responsibility to have TTY or VP for the inmates. They receive federal funding, and therefore, are mandated under Title IV of the ADA to provide accommodations for the deaf. If they don't, they risk loosing their Federal funding. This jail has taken money from the Federal government, and then violated the criteria that made them eligible for the money. This is not just a violation of a deaf person's civil rights, it is misappropriation of funds. In effect, that sherriff's dept is stealing from the federal government.
 
Whoo! Yeah baby! Go Doug Bahl! Let's Bahl kick their butt! Good luck to Bahl! :)
 
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