Director Frank Perry of the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, which oversees the state police, cautioned against a rush to judgment in the case, saying both internal and independent reviews of Saunders, policies and training are being conducted.
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“While the Highway Patrol, the State Bureau of investigation and the District Attorney’s Office conduct their respective reviews, we are keeping all those affected by this tragedy in our thoughts and prayers”, he said.
Trooper Jermaine Saunders tried to pull Harris over for speeding Thursday evening on a highway in northeast Charlotte. Harris was killed Thursday.
The National Association of the Deaf doesn’t keep statistics on violent interactions involving deaf people and law enforcement.
It advises troopers to watch a person’s hands because “deaf people have been stopped by an officer and then shot and killed because the deaf person made a quick move for a pen and pad”.
But witnesses said Harris – who was unarmed – was shot “almost immediately” after he exited his vehicle, WCNC reports.
Harris’ family said they were not talking to the media Tuesday because they wanted the focus to be on a memorial held at a church.
Authorities have released little information about the investigation, including any possible body camera or dashboard camera footage or whether a gun was found near Harris.
Per department protocol, Saunders was placed on administrative leave after the incident. A spokeswoman for the SBI, which is handling the investigation, didn’t immediately respond on Tuesday to questions, including whether authorities have interviewed Saunders yet.
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.
“You don’t see deafness the way that you see the difference in race”.
“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”.
In interviews with local stations, Sam Harris remembered his brother as effervescent and amusing, a unique person whom others liked being around. They signed with each other as an Associated Press reporter knocked on their door on Tuesday.
Police have shot and killed an unarmed deaf man in North Carolina only yards from his house. “Daniel isn’t the first deaf person who was wrongfully shot by the police”, NAD President Melissa Draganac-Hawk said in a signed video statement.
A review of public records shows a few traffic and other minor charges against Harris from other states, including a Denver police report that says he damaged his employer’s vehicle with his own auto after he was sacked a year ago.
Activist Shaun King notes that it’s not clear if Harris understood what was happened in the moments before his death “since he could not have heard the sirens” in his New York Daily News column.
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He was arrested twice in Florida in 2010 once for petit theft and once for speeding. A charge of resisting an officer was dropped.
