Deaf Man, 72, Claims Mistreatment by LAPD

There’s no denying Sanford Diamond can be excitable. High blood pressure can do that to you, he says. So can the frustration of trying to communicate with a world you cannot hear.

But even after the deaf and diabetic 72-year-old was handcuffed, brought to the ground, allegedly roughed up and finally cut loose by Los Angeles police, all he really wanted from the city was an apology and $5,850 for a new set of teeth, he says.

When that didn’t happen, Diamond, a retired printer from Gardena, decided to sue on the grounds that LAPD officers are so poorly trained--or indifferent to the hearing-impaired--that they construed his sign language gesture as threatening and justification for using force.

In a class-action case pending in federal court, Diamond has accused the LAPD, not only of battery, false arrest and negligence, but also of violating his civil rights and laws, including the Americans With Disabilities Act, that protect the hearing-impaired.

“For 72 years, I have respected the police. I’ve never had any trouble. I’ve been a good citizen,” Diamond said through an interpreter.

But the 1999 incident, Diamond said, left him “fed up” with the LAPD. “I was deprived of the right to communicate with police. They didn’t go through appropriate procedures,” he said. Though he was arrested, the case against Diamond was dropped.

Deputy City Atty. Jessie Gonzalez disputes Diamond’s charges that the LAPD does not adequately train officers or that police, in this incident, acted improperly.

“We have continuous training,” said Gonzalez, who has an April 9 deadline to respond to the charges. “We are completely sensitive to these kinds of issues.”

The city, he added, is “obviously concerned” with Diamond’s charges but believes the LAPD provides the hearing-impaired with the same level of service as other citizens.

“I don’t think they will be able to prove there is a custom, practice or policy of the city to treat these people differently than other people,” Gonzalez said.

Although Diamond is now the only plaintiff in the case, his attorneys say they are talking with other hearing-impaired residents who have similar complaints. The class-action lawsuit, filed by the Western Law Center for Disability Rights and attorney Donald Cook, a specialist in police misconduct cases, contends that Diamond’s alleged mistreatment is part of a much larger pattern of inadequate training by the LAPD.

With an estimated 900,000 county residents suffering some kind of hearing impairment, Diamond’s attorneys say in court papers that LAPD officers “have failed and continue to fail to communicate with people with hearing impairments in as effective a manner as they do with other members of the general public.”

Law center attorney Christopher Knauf said, “There is no question that there are tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, [of] county residents who use sign language,” as Diamond does.

The October 1999 incident, according to Diamond and various law enforcement and medical records, began in a Granada Hills parking lot when Diamond got into a scuffle with another motorist who accused him of damaging his car.

When police arrived, they found Diamond bleeding from a cut on his forehead and, according to their report, determined that he had initiated the fight--a charge he denies. The other motorist, officers said, was not hurt and did not want to press charges but wanted a police report of the incident.

Frustrated, Diamond said, he tried to communicate with police through American Sign Language. “Somebody was trying to blame me for a fight,” he said. “I went up to gesture to the police, and they told me to wait on the sidewalk.”

Although a police report describes Diamond as “belligerent and uncooperative,” Diamond said he--and a friend who is also deaf--were just trying to communicate.

Different Versions of Incident

According to the police report, Diamond ignored their warnings to stay on the sidewalk and instead approached officers as they continued their questioning. “He began yelling incoherently and . . . flailed his arms around,” it says.

After they escorted Diamond back to the curb, officers said, he became so agitated that they had to restrain him with a wrist hold and then with handcuffs. When they still could not control him, officers said, they “gently” brought him to the ground before placing him in a patrol car. The report identifies six officers who took part in the arrest.

Arrested on suspicion of interfering with police, Diamond was taken to the Van Nuys station and treated for the cut that he suffered during his fight with the other motorist, police said. Diamond, the report says, “sustained no injuries as a result of the use of force.”

Diamond describes the incident much differently.

After concluding police were not interested in his side of the story, Diamond said, he tried to convince his friend they should leave.

“But I didn’t have any chance to confer with police at all,” he said. “They grabbed my arm and pulled it away . . . and that is when everybody jumped on me.”

When he was taken down to the ground, Diamond said, the impact knocked out his dental bridge. Then, he said, he was put in a sweltering squad car while police resumed their investigation. “I was screaming and sweating,” he said. “I felt like the Hunchback of Notre Dame, you know? I wanted to scream for water, but couldn’t.”

On the street and later at the station, Diamond said, he was never told by police why he was being arrested or informed of his Miranda rights. Moreover, he said, he was continually frustrated by police officers’ either ignoring his efforts to communicate or pretending they understood when they didn’t.

Police refused to let him use a pen and paper, he said, instead relying on bystanders or a police volunteer to translate. Based on their efforts, Diamond said, it was clear they were barely trained in American Sign Language.

“I tried to tell them there was no other way I could communicate,” he said. “I never had an opportunity to explain my side of the story.”

Long after the incident, Diamond’s wife said, she is still plagued by the image of her husband returning home. “He was a mess,” she said, crying. “He was filthy, dirty. He was limping. . . . For months and months, he would jump up in bed” from fitful nightmares, she said.

Diamond said: “This isn’t about the money. I just want this stopped. I just want the police to be trained properly.”