Trial of a deaf man in NY

Miss-Delectable

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Trial of deaf man continued
By THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: April 23, 2004)

The court case of a deaf Peekskill man charged with misdemeanor child endangerment in what his lawyer called a misunderstanding was continued yesterday to May 27.

Edward Dariwala, 24, was walking home in February when he saw a girl crying, according to his attorney, Anthony J. Mamo Jr. Dariwala, who communicates in sign language, approached the girl to try to help, using his hands and voice in an attempt to communicate with her, Mamo said.

Dariwala can't tell how loudly he speaks, and the 14-year-old girl may have been frightened, prompting her to run away, Mamo said. One of her friends called police, and Dariwala was arrested the next day.

He was held by police overnight and denied the services of a certified sign-language interpreter, Mamo said.

Advocates for the disabled said his experience highlighted a common problem with the lack of interpreters.

Mamo said yesterday that the prosecutor's office, which had yet to fully review Dariwala's file, offered to let him plead guilty to harassment, but Mamo turned it down.

"We stand by our position that he did nothing wrong," he said.
 
I believe it was all a big misunderstanding...

I mean, geez, if they seen him using sign language, they should've get the hint that he was deaf and it wasn't even his fault that he noticed that he was talking loud either... :roll:

I've met some oher deafies who can't talk too well but just shout and shit so they had no experience with their speech and stuff like that.
 
i agree Steel -- such a shame this had to happen *smh*

it was a big misunderstanding and i hope the court recognize that -- but this situation could prevent other deafies who are good samaritians from doing the good deed by helping others in crisis by scaring them into an arrest all cuz they have tried to do good and only to be arrested for that -- :crazy: but i think its what would happen
 
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