Cops Beat a Deaf Man for Seven Minutes Because He didn’t Respond to Their Yelling
Pearl Pearson is a 64 year-old diabetic deaf driver who resides in the Oklahoma City area. On the evening of January 3rd, Pearl crossed paths with the wrong cops.
At this time, only limited details can be provided since this case is under investigation.
1. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol pulled Pearl over late in the evening on January 3, 2014. Pearl pulled over as he should.
2. Pearl’s driver’s license indicates he is Deaf. He also has a placard in his driver’s door that says, “Driver is deaf”.
3. Pearl pulled over and rolled down his window, expecting an officer to ask for this identification. An officer struck him in the face before Pearl had the chance to do anything. As you can see, he was struck multiple times.
4. An interpreter was never provided while Pearl was under the care of law enforcement. Not during the booking, hospital, or time at the jail was an interpreter provided, even through Pearl requested one.
5. Pearl was left wondering “why” the the entire time. He has no clue why he was beat. Pearl and his family are still not sure, but are ready for some answers.
6. Pearl’s own son is a police officer, as was his son-in-law, who is now a deputy sheriff. He respects law enforcement and knows how to respond when pulled over. There is no reason for someone like Pearl to be hurt like this by those who are meant to protect and serve.
[LAL Note: "respect[ing] law enforcement" is not a prerequisite for proper treatment by law enforcement.]
Yelling at a deaf man to put up his hands will not do much, except aggravate an already aggressive police officer. This is a tragic scenario of ignorance and needless escalation of violence.
Eric Foster and Kelton Hayes were the two OHP officers that were involved in what an affidavit claims was a 7 minutes altercation.
Where is the dash cam footage from the units of Eric Foster and Kelton Hayes? Wouldn’t this clear up any inconsistencies in this story?
Naturally, it’s paid vacation time:
The two officers have been suspended with pay while the investigation into this incident continues.
This is hardly the first time a bully in blue attacked a deaf man for not listening. One other notable example: in 2010, a Seattle cop shot and killed a partially deaf man for holding a folded pocket knife he used for whittling when the man couldn’t hear orders to drop it. He wasn’t harassing anyone, he was just walking. The city of Seattle paid the man’s family $1.5 million. Which means, yet again, taxpayers were on the hook for the wrongdoing of state agents.
