ACLU sues Woonsocket Police for discriminating against deaf man
By: Elisha Kay Aldrich
The Rhode Island chapter of the ACLU, and the Rhode Island Disability Law Center have filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Woonsocket Police Department. According to a media release from the ACLU, a deaf man was arrested and detained overnight by Woonsocket police for allegedly making an obscene gesture. He was never provided with an interpreter in order to communicate with police, which the ACLU says was a form of discrimination. They are also arguing that the city’s “obscene gesture” ordinance is unconstitutional.
The plaintiff, David Alves, was arrested last July, when he was with friends at the City Side Club in Woonsocket. Police were called after Alves’s friends and the bouncer got into an argument, which forced them to leave. On the way out, Alves signed an expletive towards the bouncer, which police interpreted as flipping him off. He was arrested for violating a city ordinance that bans “obscene language or making an obscene gesture.”
When Alves was held overnight, his requests for an interpreter were ignored, according to the ACLU. The next morning, a deaf friend of Alves was given a note saying that he would “be out in the morning no problem…These things happen, he just needs to take it as a learning experience.”
A Municipal Court judge dismissed the charge a few months later.
The case argues that the obscene gesture ordinance in Woonsocket is “unconstitutionally overbroad and vague in violation of the First Amendment.” It also argues that keeping Alves overnight without cause violated his rights of due process of law and freedom from unreasonable search and seizures. The failure to provide an interpreter or any other way for Alves to effectively communicate also barred a number of federal and state laws barring discrimination based on disability.
“I need to fight this case so that other people don’t have to go through the same thing I went through,” Alves said. “Deaf and hard of hearing people deserve the same dignity anyone else deserves. If they violate my civil rights, then they might feel they can violate other people’s civil rights. I want to do what I can to prevent that.”
Rhode Island ACLU Executive Director Steven Brown added that people cannot be put in jail just to have a learning experience.
“We are hopeful this lawsuit will send a clear message to all law enforcement agencies that there are basic constitutional limits on the use of their formidable police powers, and that they cannot ignore their obligations under anti-discrimination laws to treat people with disabilities fairly.”
© WLNE-TV / ABC6
