Police burst into home based on false shooting report, taser deaf man wearing nothing but towel

[DS1]

Donnell Williams had just gotten out of the bath tub, wearing only a towel around his waist, when he turned the corner to see guns pointing right at him.

"I ain't never been so scared," says Williams.

Police forced entry into Williams home while responding to a shooting, but it turned out to be a false call. They had no idea at the time the call wasn't real and that Williams is hearing impaired. Without his hearing aid he is basically deaf.

"I kept going to my ear yelling that I was scared. I can't hear! I can't hear!"

Officers were worried about their own safety because at the time it appeared Williams was refusing to obey their commands to show his hands. That's when they shot him with a Taser.

Deputy Chief Robert Lee of the Wichita Police Department says, "This one occurred on the worst of calls, that being a shooting. The first few minutes getting control of the scene are very, very important."

Once the facts were all sorted out, officers repeatedly apologized to Williams. Police wish it never happened, but with the information they had at the time, their choices were limited.

http://www.kwch.com/global/story.asp?s=7446220

[MonkeyFunk]

1. He's wearing nothing but a towel

and he's pointing at his ears, and they can't see his hands? Huh?

[hvn_nbr_2]

37. Lots of people stash guns under their towel when in the bathtub.

You don't need to use your hands to hold and fire a gun from under your towel. Or sumpthin like that. :sarcasm:

[Javaman]

50. Is that a gun? Or are you happy to see us? nt

[Guaranteed]

44. And clearly has no weapons. Not sure why the taser was necessary. nt

[indepat]

46. Some like inflicting this form of torture upon a hapless person?

[aquart]

2. Uh huh. What does Williams' lawyer say?

[RebelOne]

11. Let's hope he has one. Hope he can sue.

[DemGa]

3. The blue-suits just keep getting more creative...nt

[Kingshakabobo]

4. At least they apologized.

They must not have had a "throw down" weapon handy - poor planning on their part.

[PATRICK]

17. It was too hard

to carve the wet soap bar into a gun.

[tom_paine]

56. Maybe they didn't have any crack to sprinkle on him

to quote Dave Chapelle.

[NOLALady]

5. Poor Poor Police.

I just feel so sorry for them with their limited choices. What's a cop to do? That deaf man could have had a weapon of mass destruction under that bath towel.

[liberalhistorian]

60. You know, as someone with a hearing impairment myself,

I gotta say that this is the kind of thing we often fear and will have nightmares about. In the heat of the moment, cops may have trouble understanding that we may not be able to fully understand them. There have been cases where deaf people have reached for the cards some carry to explain that they're deaf, and have been shot because officers thought they were reaching for a weapon. Or whatever the hell they may have thought, who really knows.

If there's ever a time when you do NOT want to appear to be disrespectful or not paying attention, it's when dealing with a cop. I don't wear my hearing aids while driving, for obvious reasons. They're really not necessary while driving and I'm not totally deaf without them (I may turn my radio up louder than any passengers would often prefer, but that's a different story altogether, lol). During the times I've been stopped for a traffic ticket, or have been in accidents, I make sure to make it clear to the cop IMMEDIATELY that, while I'm not deaf, I do have a serious hearing impairment and I will likely have difficulty understanding fully everything he's saying, including some questions. I explain that he will need to look right at me when talking and speak a bit slower and louder. The fear that one of these days I'll run into one who won't understand or won't care is very real. The fear that I may find myself in the kind of situation as this gentleman did, or in a situation where there may not be time for the cop to understand my impairment, is even more real at times.

I remember one time I was stopped on the highway for speeding (yeah, yeah, I know, I know, lol!). The problem was, the place where we were on the highway, there really wasn't a good place to stop, no shoulder, etc. He started talking to me through the car's speakers or bullhorn (can't remember which, it's been several years), giving instructions on what to do. I simply could not understand him. I knew he was saying something, but I just couldn't understand what it was (that's typical for my type of hearing loss, you can often hear that something's being said, you just can't make out clearly what it is. Of course, my hearing's been getting progressively worse over the years so that there's a lot that I just don't hear at all anymore). My son was in the front passenger seat next to me, and he had to "translate" for me so that I could follow the cop's instructions. It took longer than he wanted for me to follow his directions, since my son had to listen, then tell me what he was saying.

Well, the cop comes flying up to my window, angry because I apparently wasn't listening and he thought I was being uncooperative. I managed to stay calm, even though I was really frightened by that point, and explained the situation; my son helped as well. He was okay after that. But I'm also a middle-class white gal. I wondered at times what would have happened had I been the "wrong" skin color or had been driving a "beater" or had been any one of a number of things that the cop might not have "liked" or thought meant more of a possibility of "trouble." He really was angry at first and who knows what might have set him off.

So, this kind of thing really is what a lot of us with hearing impairments and/or deafness truly fear, and with good reason. Cops are trained to deal with people in the "mainstream", they don't get much training in dealing with those who have disabilities, whether it's deafness, mental illness, etc. And that makes those of us who are not in the "mainstream" that much more fearful when dealing with them.

[atreides1]

6. Taking Lessons from Bush and Congress

"...but with the information they had at the time, their choices were limited."

The man was wearing a towel, for Christ sakes.

[Richard Steele]

7. How long til the DU TaserPologist Brigade drops by to defend this?

I'll check back later.

[Bluebear]

30. I was waiting patiently too.

Crickets.

[Richard Steele]

36. Maybe they've all retired, to spend more time electrically torturing their families?

:shrug:

[Occulus]

53. They've been mysteriously silent lately.

And they've had a number of opportunities lately, too.

I think they might be off in a dark corner, sucking their collective thumbs. These sorts of incidents make them wail for mommy.

[Nailzberg]

57. We're all in the gundeon defending firearms today.

No time for tasers.

[tuckessee]

8. He's lucky they didn't blow him away then frame him.

Like they tried to do to that eldery lady in Atlanta.

[zbdent]

21. ah, but if Rudy was President

he'd be recovering from a plumber's helper up the rectum ...

[Cronus Protagonist]

40. Oh, was he black or something?

:sarcasm:

[struggle4progress]

42. Maybe the police thought he was trying to steal the bathtub

[Javaman]

51. He had a loaded towel and he was repeatedly snapping it at us!!! nt

[bdamomma]

9. police are out of control.

they are going taser crazy and going after innocent people.

[R_M]

10. In addition to being deaf, he has to have the horrific....

feeling of paralysis!

:argh:

[TahitiNut]

12. Was that a stick of dynamite under his towel or was he glad to see them?

:grr:

[havocmom]

13. You're feeling spunky again

aren't you?
:rofl:

[krispos42]

14. So, they had time to holster their guns and draw a taser?

I'm confused here. They had him at gunpoint in a bath towel. One hand pointing at his ears, one presumebly clutching the towel around his waist.

Now, I've seen police on "Cops" sucessfully communicate to people that don't speak English how to get on the ground, so why couldn't they do it to this guy?

Deaf people can often read lips, so this must have happened too fast for the guy to get his bearings. Something like...

"Get on the ground!"

"I can't hear!"

"GET ON THE GROUND!"

"I can't hear!"

Bzzzzzzt!

"Ahhhhh! I'm deaf!"

"Oopsie!"


The cops probably thought he was being sarcastic or something.

What happened to just talking him down? Or pepper spray? I mean, what is he going to do, use his towel as a whip to knock the gun out of the cop's hand, then snap it round the cop's throat a lá Indiana Jones and break his neck?

The worst thing the guy can do is rip off the towel and throw it at the cops for a diversion. This isn't a Jackie Chan movie!

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. I hope he sues them for every penny he can get

I am so tired of these crazy cops with tasers stories. :grr:

[R_M]

22. Police should be personally responsible for their...

overt negligence.

[Midlodemocrat]

16. See? If EVERYONE had a taser, this wouldn't be a problem.

[sniffa]

20. good idea

if tasers are outlawed, then cops will be outlaws.

[Benhurst]

18. Williams should be charged with indecent exposure.

[tanyev]

19. They should all be thankful that he was no longer in the bathtub.

:grr:

[seabeyond]

23. bull fuckin shit... choices were limited. naked but a towel. no imminent danger

so stop and listen, and he is saying i can't hear, then think. they are in NO danger, the man is about naked.

are we there yet.

[EFerrari]

24. I don't think their choices are f#cking limited enough. n/t

[Swamp Rat]

25. "their choices were limited?"

Not only should those cops lose their jobs, they should go to prison.

[Quantess]

26. This is the most shameful taser incident in recent memory.

It's right up there with the worst of them.

[NuttyFluffers]

41. i thought the 'asleep inside your home, prone on the sofa' was more shameful

but that was only a few weeks ago. this is definitely up there. i'm wondering where it places with the tasered 'grandma in a wheelchair,' 'mouthy 7 year old girl,' and others.... i mean, in this case there was forced entry, because mere phone call of suspicion of gunfire definitely overrides warrants of all kinds -- i mean, probably cause and imminent danger and all that jazz. hands were tied, don'tcha know.

you'd think people would see a pattern already and contact their local gov't to knock their police force back into sane policies. you know, i was never this afraid or concerned about the police/religious police in Saudi Arabia, FYI. is that a bad thing that i felt safer from the fundamentalist psychotic gov't of Saudi Arabia than USA because i knew i wouldn't be invaded by police/religious police and suddenly shot/beheaded? does that mean we're living in bad times and our policies are probably wrong? i wonder some times...

[Quantess]

52. I must have missed that one.

There are so many cases of wrongful tasering, I can't keep up.

[Occulus]

54. I think you should make that sentiment of yours a thread of its own.

There are a lot of people on this board who use the SA government as an example of an oppressive state. I think you would do well to point out, publicly, that your felt safer from these sorts of incidents over there than you currently do here. It's a point that needs to stand on its own.

For balance, include some of the common 'bad behavior' on the part of the SA police/religious police.

[NuttyFluffers]

65. well, we had to pray in secret -- sorta. that's pretty bad.

religious police in SA basically walked around with checkbooks and wrote out fines. they were nothing like the Taliban beating women for showing ankle. it might've changed recently, but i doubt it. and western women were wholly allowed, though discouraged, to dress showing their hair or 'modest displays of arm and leg.' and they almost never went into westerner's homes. and we heard that they rarely went into bedouin tents, sheik homes, etc either. they could 'invite themselves over for a chat' and oh yes you should hide everything contraband and mind your Ps and Qs, but you were in no immediate, accidental, life-threatening danger. the police there, unless you were known to be guilty and they had their equivalent of "warrant and due process" (read: strong suspicion of guilt with likely reports from family and friends), were far more likely to just TALK OVER TEA with you than anything.

but SA gov't worked pretty much that you could not attack someone, shoot, stab, kill, etc. just any ol' time you feel threatened. because if you did that you'd "invite the SA gov't to be 'responsible to all its citizens' and do an 'investigation,'" especially because the bereaved family would want justification, evidence, and restitution. killing people without notable guilt was quite the complicated matter as manslaughter was a rather foreign concept to them (unless it was the Pakistani and Philippino indentured servants dying from a Saudi Arabian citizen's negligence -- then that's the "Will of God"). so people were encouraged to defer capture and punishment to the gov't.

lets say a theft case occurs (mind bogglingly rare in Saudi), you would be better to memorize the faces/details of the thieves, point your assault rifle or sword at them and tell them to leave. then you'd tell the gov't (usually local tribal), they'd track the guy down -- amazing social network of clans provide primo intel if you work the diplo right, and SA definitely do -- grab 'em, try 'em, and if guilty lop off a hand. but here in USA you're justified by several state castle doctrines to allow you, or a neighbor, to shoot someone dead and then profess justification. that's kinda scary; that allows some individual to be judge, jury, and executioner -- even worse it allows liars to kill with relative impunity.

we had news stories when people would flip out and do something horrible there as in any country. but it was always emphasized, except for some honor killings -- which were also quite rare, that it was the gov't that meted out the punishment. must've been because if they let tribes do it there'd be civil wars and madness soon after.

when someone flipped out at a commisary and started swinging a scimitar around because of the expensive price of food and accidentally lopped off another shopper's head (british) that sword dude also was killed later by the state. but no one would've thought to do something like Yemen and have some 4 hour gun fight over each other's clans honor, let alone even consider busting out their gun and start a free-for-all in the commisary. all you were allowed to do was point the weapon to keep the person at bay and then run away. it was preferred you even just run away. it was the state and only the state's priviledge to mete out 'justice.'

in another case a man got tired of eating soup all the time and then mutilated his wife out of rage, lopping off a hand and most of the fingers on another, a foot and half the foot of the other, an ear, an eye, chunks of flesh all over, etc. quite horrible. in Saudi the gov't response is the man was egregiously cruel letting wrath get the better of him. so they arrested him, sent him to the operation table, and had a doctor do the exact same amputations on him as he did on his wife. then they released him back to his wife, when they were both healed, and said his punishment is to learn to survive and support his wife and himself with the new handicaps he inflicted on both of them. they had to rely on each other to survive, which would be a constant reminder of his crime, but also the means of redemption, and prevention from escape of his consequences.

gut wrenching in horror naturally, but such "attention of the gov't" was easily avoidable. and in that way you felt safer that the "eye and arm of the gov't" wasn't going to swoop out of nowhere for little to no provocation and "accidentally" destroy your life. and it's further kinda worrisome here in USA that any ol' john doe can mete out justice if they become "a'feared." draconian laws in SA, but at least there were clearly demarcated boundaries -- unlike seemingly here.

[Chovexani]

27. How do you sign "Don't tase me, bro?"

[bridgit]

28. 5th k&r...

:kick:

[Quantess]

29. Going by the victim's name,

Donnell Williams, chances are good he's black.

[Richard Steele]

31. Name, schmame. The fact that he was a victim of police brutality is a fairly reliable indicator...

...of his skin tone.

[AX10]

32. kick

[uppityperson]

33. k&r. Incredible. First minutes getting control of a guy in a towel is very important?

How about slowing down and seeing wtf is going on? What choices were limited? Shoot him or tase him or perhaps, get this, NOTICE he was nude with a towel yelling "I can't hear".

[msedano]

34. i'll be first to defend the pigs

obviously you people have never been swatted by a wet towel. leaves a red mark and stings like the dickens.

[Occulus]

55. .

:rofl:

[Desperadoe]

35. refusing to obey their commands to show his hands

If he would have used sign language, he would have had to drop the towel. Then they would have Tased him AND arrested him for indecent exposure.

It's a good thing we're still in Kansas, Toto.

[lostnotforgotten]

38. I'd Sue The Police Department So Quickly On This One - Simply Inexcusable!

eom

[Truth2Tell]

39. Can we outlaw 'em yet?

:shrug:

[NuttyFluffers]

43. not yet, cuz y'know that'll only leave lethal force left, right?

:silly:

their hands. their hands! think of the officers' hands! so tied, so tied...

(and it goes without saying what condition their mouths and common sense are in. they'd get chewed out by their superior if they tried to think or speak their way out of a situation. yes, force is the only way, ever the only way. i mean just look at our federal gov't and international relations?)

[Mythsaje]

45. Always nice to hear Officer Not-So-Friendly's hard at work...n/t

[Quantess]

47. Don't we all feel so much safer now.

I'm so relieved that Deaf people wearing towels will be subdued.

[Mythsaje]

48. They're a menace, I tell you. A menace! n/t

[liberalhistorian]

62. Oh, yes, look out, we like to

run around our neighborhoods naked and waving our bathtowels over our heads! Behave, or we just night snap them at you!

:silly:

[AspenRose]

49. We need a forum just for all the crazy taser stories that keep popping up

*sigh*

[karlrschneider]

58. Is this him?

[CRF450]

59. The hells up with you people accusing the police??

They take reports of shootings very very seriously, for their own safety they have to get everyone under control. The use of the tazer was uncalled for after all is cleared up, they could have just forced the guy to ground instead of tazering, but they wont know much at all untill they arrive at the scene and gain control.

I'd like to know who the hell reported a shooting at that mans house.

[Richard Steele]

64. Oh, just give me a fucking BREAK fer chrissakes!

QUOTE: "for their own safety they have to get everyone under control."

So, lets review:
Several officers wearing body armor, and carrying firearms, tasers, and clubs
confronted a lone man wearing nothing but a towel. They could see both his hands.

And you come along trying to justify their brutal attack as a matter of "their safety"?

Give me a fucking break, pal.

[CRF450]

68. They responded to a call that their was possibly a shooting their

Of course they're barge into the house. They didn't know if that guy was alone, minding his own bussiness, or if their was crazed out man ready to kill someone.

[Richard Steele]

74. Utter bullshit. They knew he was no threat to them once they confronted him.

What they thought MIGHT have been the case beforehand is utterly irrelevant,
and certainly no excuse for abusing him as they did.

[GOTV]

70. Cops should be assuming the risk....

... they are supposed to risk their life to protect us. Instead it seems they've started risk the lives of those they come into contact with to protect themselves first.

Until they see a gun, I don't see the justification for deadly, or near deadly force - ever. Yes, I understand, by the time you see the gun it might be too late. If they're not willing to take the chance with their lives, they probably shouldn't be a cop. That's why I'm not a cop for example.

[TankLV]

77. umm - we're INTELLIGENT and have BRAINS for two things

somethings obviously you DON'T have!

At first I thought you forgot you're "sarcasm" smiley - but you're fucking SERIOUS!!!

ohforchristsake...

[ecstatic]

61. At least they didn't gun him down, like they did Kathryn Johnson last year

I take it this guy was caucasian?

[Canuckistanian]

63. Why were the police wearing a towel?

Is this some new intimidation technique?

[Domitan]

66. Please click on this video

http://www.d-pan.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=35&Itemid=35

This video song "speaks" to me when I see this shit on the news. There's a segment that shows Deaf people getting shot by the cops.

[Vinca]

67. Guess he'll be a deaf rich guy. Police are out of control.

Say everything is correct until they hit the bathroom. It's a guy IN A TOWEL! A TOWEL! Did they think he was concealing a weapon in his rubber duckie? Were they afraid of the Dove soap? Once again, they use the damn taser because it's convenient. Don't let the scared shitless guy calm down enough to communicate with him somehow. "Refusing to obey commands" when a person is OBVIOUSLY UNARMED is not a reason to taser, not when there have been multiple hundreds of deaths associated with it. (By the way, I used to be a cop.)

[knitter4democracy]

69. Their choices were limited?

Um, no, they weren't. A guy screaming he can't hear means you change how you communicate. You keep motioning for him to get on the ground and maybe even put him there. Then you search and try to communicate and see if there's a way to get through to the guy to ask him questions.

What did cops do before tasers? Sheesh!

[liberalhistorian]

71. What did they do before tasers? They shot

dear/hearing-impaired people first, then asked questions later. That's what they did, what they STILL do at times. Believe me, those of us in the deaf/hard-of-hearing community know all about it.

[knitter4democracy]

73. Some shot--good cops used their skills to defuse the situation.

I honestly think that good cops use their brains first and then whatever tools they have at hand to defuse whatever's going on and to communicate with everyone. My stepbrother's a cop, and I can't imagine him even needing a taser as big and intimidating as he is. If he used it, there'd be a damn good reason.

I worry about the deaf community with this ramping up of the police state stuff. Minorities of all kinds are in trouble with this mindset.

[liberalhistorian]

75. Knitter, the deaf and hard of hearing

have ALWAYS had to deal with this kind of thing and with this kind of fear of it happening. I agree that good cops use their brains first before anything else, but a deaf/hard of hearing person isn't guaranteed a "good" cop.

BTW, that's interesting that your stepbrother's a cop, 'cause both of mine are sheriff's deputies. One went into the law after being a farmer for nearly fifteen years, talk about a major career change, lol.

[knitter4democracy]

76. My stepbrother grew up a farmboy.

Isn't that funny. :) The family farm went under, and so the cousins all went onto other fields of interest, pardon the pun.

Minorities of all kinds are never guaranteed a good cop. That's the tragedy.

[Beelzebud]

72. They had no choice but to tazer the naked deaf man, in his own home.

I'm getting tired of reading about American citizens being treated like livestock.