A Deaf Man Who Couldn’t Hear Police Commands Was Tased And Spent 4 Months In Jail
Brady Mistic, a deaf man, is suing the city of Idaho Springs, Colo., and others over his 2019 arrest.
Raymond Bryant
When Brady Mistic drove into the parking lot of a Colorado laundromat one day in September 2019, he thought he was about to run a routine errand.
But moments after exiting his car, Mistic was blinded by the lights of a parked police cruiser. Two Idaho Springs police officers began shouting commands at Mistic, who was 24 at the time. One officer threw him to the ground, and the other stunned Mistic with her Taser, according to a new federal lawsuit.
The officers claim Mistic resisted arrest, but the Coloradan says there was a different reason for his confused behavior when police confronted him: He couldn’t hear them. Mistic is deaf in both ears, isn’t able to lip-read and uses American Sign Language to communicate.
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Now, he is suing the two officers, the city of Idaho Springs and the Clear Creek County Board of Commissioners, arguing that police violated his civil rights when they violently arrested him without warning.
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“They went to force unreasonably fast, unreasonably rashly, without any legitimate justification for using force, which is particularly problematic for a person who’s disabled like Mr. Mistic was,” Raymond Bryant, Mistic’s attorney, told NPR.
Mistic spent more than four months in jail, only to have the charges against him dropped eventually, the suit says.
In a statement, the Idaho Springs Police Department said the two officers didn’t know Mistic was deaf during the initial encounter and maintained that Mistic resisted arrest, causing one of the officers to break his leg.
The department added that former Idaho Springs Police Chief Christian Malanka reviewed the matter and found the officers’ actions were appropriate.
Mistic’s arrest and the aftermath
On Sept. 17, 2019, former Idaho Springs Police Officer Nicholas Hanning and Officer Ellie Summers, who was in training at the time, followed Mistic into the laundromat parking lot after they allegedly witnessed him run a stop sign.
Mistic got out of his car and started walking toward the laundromat. Police said Hanning and Summers ordered him to get back into his car and, when he didn’t, tried to place him in handcuffs “due to his unexplained actions,” at which point he resisted arrest.
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But he didn’t know what the officers wanted or even if their “presence had anything to do with him,” according to the lawsuit Mistic filed in federal court this month in Colorado.
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Bryant said his client did not resist arrest but rather put his hands up when the officers approached him. “A person would have to know they’re under arrest in order to resist arrest,” Bryant said.
After he was on the ground, Mistic yelled “no ears” to try to communicate to the officers he was deaf, but they ignored him, the suit says.
Summers told emergency medical staff called to the scene that Mistic was deaf, but neither officer ever tried to secure an ASL interpreter, according to the suit.
Mistic then spent more than four months in jail and says he was repeatedly denied an interpreter.
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Police charged Mistic with assault on a first responder, obstructing a peace officer and resisting arrest. He was also charged with possession of forged currency, the suit says, because police found movie-prop money in his wallet.
The charges were later dropped, according to the lawsuit. Police said the district attorney’s office for the 5th Judicial District let Mistic participate in a diversion program in lieu of facing formal charges.
Hanning was later charged with third-degree assault and fired from the police force in a separate case in which he allegedly used his Taser on a 75-year-old man, according to The Associated Press. Summers, who used a Taser on Mistic, according to the lawsuit, is still an officer with the Idaho Springs police.
Police Taser blind man mistaking his white stick for a samurai sword
This article is more than 13 years old
The IPCC is investigating an incident in Chorley, where an innocent person was struck by a 50,000-volt stun gun
Thu 18 Oct 2012 01.21 BSTShare
An innocent blind man was shot in the back with a 50,000-volt Taser by police after they mistook his white stick for a samurai sword.
Colin Farmer, 61, was hit after reports of a man walking through Chorley, Lancashire, early on Friday evening, with a sword. He said he initially thought he was being attacked by hooligans when he was struck by the Taser.
The matter is being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) after Farmer made a complaint to the force.
Farmer, who used to run an architects’ practice, was on his way to meet friends at 5.45pm and was walking in Peter Street near a restaurant. “I was just walking along and I heard some men shouting really angrily and thought I’m going to get mugged. I didn’t know any police were here.
“The Taser hit me in the back and it started sending all these thousands of volts through me and I was terrified. I mean I had two strokes already caused by stress. I dropped the stick involuntarily and I collapsed on the floor face down.”
He added: “I was shaking and I thought ‘I’m going to have another stroke any second and this one is going to kill me. I’m being killed. I’m being killed’.”
Farmer, who has suffered two strokes, the most recent requiring two months in hospital in March, was fearful he would suffer another stroke.
“I walk at a snail’s pace. They could have walked past me, driven past me in a van or said ‘drop your weapon’.”
Lancashire Police apologised to Farmer for the “traumatic experience” but confirmed last night that the officer who fired the Taser has not been suspended and remains on duty.
Chief superintendent Stuart Williams, from Lancashire Police, said: “We received a number of reports that a man was walking through Chorley with a Samurai sword and patrols were sent to look for him.
“One of the officers believed he had located the offender. Despite asking the man to stop, he failed to do so and the officer discharged his Taser.
“It then became apparent this man was not the person we were looking for and officers attended to him straight away.
“He was taken to Chorley Hospital by officers who stayed while he was checked over by medics. They then took him to meet his friends in Chorley at his request.
“Lancashire Constabulary deeply regrets what has happened. We have clearly put this man through a traumatic experience and we are extremely sorry.
“We have launched an urgent investigation to understand what lessons can be learned and the matter has been referred to the IPCC.”
Farmer says he is taking legal action against the force and wants the officer involved charged with assault.
A 27-year-old man carrying a samurai sword was later arrested on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly.
-A correction was made to the standfirst on 18 October 2012. “IPPC” was changed to “IPCC”.
