Insulted by ASL
Have any of you Deaf or hearing ASL speakers ever heard of anything like this happening? I'm hoping this is just an isolated incident of a real asshole and this kind of thing isn't common!Gestures spark 5-person brawl
Raymond Keith McWain, 26, had just turned from Mountain View Drive onto Boniface Parkway when he noticed a truck with three men alongside his car. One of the truck occupants is deaf and mute. The deaf man was communicating with the other two in the truck through American Sign Language, a written police statement said.
McWain thought the sign language gestures were some sort of slight or "disrespect" toward him, police said. So McWain began doing some gesturing of his own. He honked and cut in front of the truck before pulling into the Papa John's pizza store on Boniface, police said. The men in the truck followed.
That's the opening of the original article in the Anchorage Daily News. The Washington Post Online has the full AP story.
Apart from the horrible situation, I wonder if the guy really can't speak, or if the reporter just assumed that anyone who is deaf must be "deaf and mute". (At least she didn't say "deaf and dumb"!)
Gestures spark 5-person brawl
GUNFIRE: Driver feels insulted by deaf man, takes beef to parking lot.
By LESLIE ANNE JONES
ljones@adn.com
Published: July 17, 2007
Last Modified: July 17, 2007 at 04:09 PM
It all might have stemmed from a case of mistaken sign language. That's what police are saying about a brawl involving five men and a gun that went off Sunday night outside a Papa John's pizza store in east Anchorage.
Raymond Keith McWain, 26, had just turned from Mountain View Drive onto Boniface Parkway when he noticed a truck with three men alongside his car. One of the truck occupants is deaf and mute. The deaf man was communicating with the other two in the truck through American Sign Language, a written police statement said.
McWain thought the sign language gestures were some sort of slight or "disrespect" toward him, police said. So McWain began doing some gesturing of his own. He honked and cut in front of the truck before pulling into the Papa John's pizza store on Boniface, police said. The men in the truck followed.
In the parking lot, McWain and the three men from the truck began pushing and shoving, police said. McWain's cousin, Daniel Harris, 20, who works at Papa John's, came out and began beating the deaf man as the deaf man's companions pummeled McWain.
Multiple shots were fired from at least one gun.
Police are looking into whether Harris pistol-whipped the deaf man. A shot might have gone off then, police spokesman Paul Honeman said.
"It's being investigated," Honeman said.
The men from the truck left the parking lot.
When police arrived they found McWain lying in the parking lot bleeding heavily from his head and upper body, Honeman said. At first police thought he'd been shot, but it turned out his injuries were from being beaten and kicked. McWain was taken to a local hospital where he was listed in fair condition.
The deaf man also went to a hospital later that night for treatment.
Police found Harris crying, crouched near the front counter inside Papa John's, court documents said.
The only man arrested was Harris, who was charged with possession of methamphetamine. When police searched Harris at the scene they found several plastic baggies of meth, a glass pipe and $4,691 in his pockets, court documents said.
Harris' bail was set at $15,000. According to a public database, he has no prior convictions in Alaska. The investigation into the fight and gunshots is ongoing.
Find Leslie Anne Jones online at adn.com/contact/ljones or call 257-4200.
Raymond Keith McWain, 26, had just turned from Mountain View Drive onto Boniface Parkway when he noticed a truck with three men alongside his car. One of the truck occupants is deaf and mute. The deaf man was communicating with the other two in the truck through American Sign Language, a written police statement said.
McWain thought the sign language gestures were some sort of slight or "disrespect" toward him, police said. So McWain began doing some gesturing of his own. He honked and cut in front of the truck before pulling into the Papa John's pizza store on Boniface, police said. The men in the truck followed.
That's the opening of the original article in the Anchorage Daily News. The Washington Post Online has the full AP story.
Apart from the horrible situation, I wonder if the guy really can't speak, or if the reporter just assumed that anyone who is deaf must be "deaf and mute". (At least she didn't say "deaf and dumb"!)
Gestures spark 5-person brawl
GUNFIRE: Driver feels insulted by deaf man, takes beef to parking lot.
By LESLIE ANNE JONES
ljones@adn.com
Published: July 17, 2007
Last Modified: July 17, 2007 at 04:09 PM
It all might have stemmed from a case of mistaken sign language. That's what police are saying about a brawl involving five men and a gun that went off Sunday night outside a Papa John's pizza store in east Anchorage.
Raymond Keith McWain, 26, had just turned from Mountain View Drive onto Boniface Parkway when he noticed a truck with three men alongside his car. One of the truck occupants is deaf and mute. The deaf man was communicating with the other two in the truck through American Sign Language, a written police statement said.
McWain thought the sign language gestures were some sort of slight or "disrespect" toward him, police said. So McWain began doing some gesturing of his own. He honked and cut in front of the truck before pulling into the Papa John's pizza store on Boniface, police said. The men in the truck followed.
In the parking lot, McWain and the three men from the truck began pushing and shoving, police said. McWain's cousin, Daniel Harris, 20, who works at Papa John's, came out and began beating the deaf man as the deaf man's companions pummeled McWain.
Multiple shots were fired from at least one gun.
Police are looking into whether Harris pistol-whipped the deaf man. A shot might have gone off then, police spokesman Paul Honeman said.
"It's being investigated," Honeman said.
The men from the truck left the parking lot.
When police arrived they found McWain lying in the parking lot bleeding heavily from his head and upper body, Honeman said. At first police thought he'd been shot, but it turned out his injuries were from being beaten and kicked. McWain was taken to a local hospital where he was listed in fair condition.
The deaf man also went to a hospital later that night for treatment.
Police found Harris crying, crouched near the front counter inside Papa John's, court documents said.
The only man arrested was Harris, who was charged with possession of methamphetamine. When police searched Harris at the scene they found several plastic baggies of meth, a glass pipe and $4,691 in his pockets, court documents said.
Harris' bail was set at $15,000. According to a public database, he has no prior convictions in Alaska. The investigation into the fight and gunshots is ongoing.
Find Leslie Anne Jones online at adn.com/contact/ljones or call 257-4200.