North Carolina police fatally shoot deaf man
A North Carolina state police officer fatally shot a deaf man named Daniel Harris late last week. And many people, including Harris's family, have questioned whether the officer shot Harris because he couldn't hear the officer and therefore didn't respond to what the officer said.
The officer, Jermaine Saunders, flashed his lights behind Harris in an attempt to pull the man over for allegedly speeding on an interstate in Charlotte.
Harris, 29, kept driving, according to police, before parking close to his home.
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What happened after that is unclear. Harris opened his car door and got out of the vehicle at some point. Then the officer opened fire.
Saunders was put on administrative leave, which is standard policy. The police haven't released any video of the event, and have not filled in details as to why Saunders shot Harris.
Audria Bridges, a special agent with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the agency investigating the shooting, says around 20 officers responded to the incident. She said it "is taking some time" to collect all the videos.
Harris' family says he was unarmed.
The family is raising money for Harris's funeral, and plans to donate the remaining funds to educating police about communicating with those who are hard of hearing.
"The police need to become aware of how to communicate with deaf people, what that might look like and how to avoid situations like this from ever happening again," Harris's brother, Sam, who is also deaf, said through a sign-language interpreter.
Violent incidents such as this are not new.
Police beat a 64-year-old black man in Oklahoma in 2014 after the man, who is hard of hearing, didn't respond to police commands while driving. After cops approached, the man reached for a card he carries to let others know he is hard of hearing, but officers dragged him out of the car instead of reading the card.
Also in 2014, a Florida police officer fatally shot a deaf man after the man brandished a gun.
All officers were cleared of wrongdoing.
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Colin is Mashable's US & World Reporter. He previously interned at Foreign Policy magazine and The American Prospect. Colin is a graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. When he's not at Mashable, you can most likely find him eating or playing some kind of sport.
